A word of advice my mom gave me when I was younger was “If someone doesn’t make you happy, then just get them out of your life.” That’s true. If someone doesn’t make you happy, you’re only making yourself unhappy by continuing to interact with that person and are fostering your own unhappiness. This advice holds true in so many cases, whether used for friendship, romantic relationships, serious romantic relationships like marriage, or even jobs, and for a variety of other things in life. If a friend always causes you unnecessary drama and more stress than happiness, don’t hang out with this person. If you know or feel deep down like you deserve better, ladies, from a man, go out and get better. If you’re married, there is such a thing as a divorce if you are really unhappy with a person and have already tried couples’ therapy and just don’t want to live like you do with that person any longer. If you’re in a position where you have another job available to you that offers you more and has a better atmosphere, leave your job and go for that one (but only if you are absolutely certain you will get this job, and don’t be cocky when deciding this…), or if your field doesn’t make you happy, there has to be some way you can go back and get a degree in something you really like and make a life out of that. So, getting rid of what or who doesn’t make you happy in life is a good piece of advice to keep in mind, but here’s another I learned for myself in life—if you want to make yourself happy, do the things you want to tell people you did, enact the stories you want to tell to others and make them a reality. We all have stories or scenarios we smile about when we think of them—we may smile a sad smile when we think of things we wish we did at a certain time, an amused smile when we think of funny scenarios that could take place, a cheerful or content smile of satisfaction when we think of doing or saying something, and a smile of happy nostalgia. If you wish you would have done something or said something in some particular circumstance or scenario, do or say these things in the future. As long as you’re not being a jerk to anybody by doing so, create the funny scenarios you smile humorously about when thinking of them. Do you want to be proud of the person you are and feel genuinely good about yourself, even with the weight of everything else in the world? Do and say these things that will make you feel proud of yourself at the end of the day. If you smile or feel warmth when thinking back to a particular time, go out and make yourself happy by doing these things again, whether it’s a drink you really liked getting at some place or a place you really liked visiting. Go and get or do these things again that make you happy when you think back on them. These may not be fool-proof ways to make you happy, but I think they may definitely help if you’re feeling down ever and want a change in your life.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Oxford Emory chapter.