15 things you should give up to be truly happy
Living a happy life does not consist of only gaining things, it also consists of giving up on things so you can welcome happiness in your life. Here are 15 things you should give up to be happy
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A part of being happy in life does include having beautiful things in life, but it does not give everlasting happiness.
To be happy and in a peaceful state of mind, one needs to let go of many things as well.
For me, this has been a huge learning since the past year, I was at a place in life where I thought, If I don’t get this or achieve that, I won’t ever be completely happy in life
this mindset honestly kept me more miserable than being a little bit happy at all. I was so focused on adding things to feel happy
Eventually, it did not happen, that’s when I started focusing on being content with what I have and letting go of these habits that were wearing me down.
In this post, I was to share with you things you should give up to be happy and let go of the extra baggage, you are carrying in your life!
Let’s begin!
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15 Things you should give up to be happy
1. Need to control everything
The rule of life is simply that we cannot control everything in it. There are aspects of our lives that we have the power to control, but there are many that we don’t
We cannot control the weather, the people around us, our hearts, someone else mindset or decisions,
Quite often, we keep trying to be in control of every aspect of our lives, but it doesn’t work in our favor, and we completely break down.
I am a firm believe in destiny, we all are meant to be somewhere and have certain experiences, no matter how much we try to avoid them.
It is a part of our karma.
When we try to control that aspect that is not in our control, our life starts to get miserable! As we keep obsessing over it and waste our energy and mental health
Whereas so many other aspects of our lives that are in our control, we neglect them, when we could make better use of them.
The only way to be peaceful in life is to give our best, do what you have control over and give your best, let go of what is out of your control, and make peace with it
2. Trying to impress everyone and make them like you
One of the common things people tend to struggle with is people pleasing, they want everyone to think good of them and like them.
While there is nothing wrong with wanting, it is essential to realize this expectation is unrealistic.
No matter how you try, you cannot make everyone like you. There will always be someone who may not, and it has nothing to do with you, but their own mindset.
We can take the example of celebrities, there are so many celebs we love and crush over, but you will always find people who do not like them at all.
If you keep spending your time and energy and changing yourself so people can like you, you will end up being miserable.
You will lose your identity, as well as, your confidence and love towards yourself.
As long as people, who are close to you, love and respect you, it is enough. You do not need to make everyone like you, and even if you try, you won’t be able to make everyone like you!
Let go of this habit and be happy.
3. Fear of failing
Fear of failing is the most common fear among youngsters, it starts from our school, where we are always taught to pass and succeed.
It affects our adulthood because we fear trying anything that seems risky, even though it’s our calling, we try to push it away due to the fear of failure.
I am grateful that this fear of failing was something I was able to overcome to the greatest extent at a young age.
I feel, that we cannot win or know what we need to do unless we try.
Until and unless you try it, you cannot know if you will succeed or not.
I have changed my profession twice because both things did not seem to be my calling. It does not mean I failed
It actually gave me experience that is still helping me in my current, and it was only after trying those things, I realized what I wanted to do.
You simply cannot succeed until you fail because failing means you have tried, practiced, and experimented enough to be skilled.
You get to know yourself better and become better in life
So many kids fear to take their true passion because they worry, that they might fail, but how would you even know if you will fail or win until you try?
The chances are always that you do end up succeeding, but Even if you don’t, at least you gave your best, and now you can move on without regrets
4. Fear of missing out
In today’s time, fear of missing out has become a huge thing, due to the internet, where we can see what is happening in everyone’s life.
Platforms where people share their edits, and highlights of their life. Someone traveling to a place or sometimes you would see many people, whom you follow traveling.
Whereas you are stuck in your city with work and responsibilities, you get this fear of missing out on the experience and fun all these people are getting.
Not going to lie, it’s definitely challenging and gets to you at one point. It happens with me and whenever it does. it affects my happiness
I have realized only when I step away from this and acknowledge that my life is different and unique.
Moreover, I have realized that we all miss out on something, if we want to do something. it comes with sacrifices as well.
The person you see traveling also feels the same way but for something else.
In the end, none of us are missing out, we are just living our unique lives, and we should keep focusing on it!
5. Trying to always be right
As humans, we are imperfect individuals who make mistakes and learn with time. We only become better as we make more mistakes and gain lessons from them.
Like falling hundreds of times as a baby until you finally start walking properly.
Hence, we cannot always be right about everything. We can make mistakes and be wrong as well.
A lot of people tend to be fixated on the idea that they can never be wrong. What they think or do is always correct.
This mindset keeps them from growing in life, they get stuck in the same cycle.
This also leads them to have poor relationships with others because they never agree they are wrong when they are.
This way of living life is going to be unhappy at the end of the day and nobody else
6. Complaining about everything
2022 was a very unhappy year for me due to a lot of things, but a big reason was also my habit of complaining, which I realized later on.
I would complain about the littlest things and make my own life, miserable from it. I would be the one feeling unhappy and angry.
I don’t remember at what moment, but it hit me that I had gotten the habit of complaining, and everything started to come together.
When I stopped this habit, naturally my mental health got better, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and started showing up instead,
I started doing what I could control and making the best out of it!
If you are also stuck in the same habit, try to remove it from your life and experience the happiness it brings you.
7. Negative self-talk
7th on the list of things you should give up to be happy is one the most important ones!
Negative self-talk is kind of similar to complaining, but in this, you keep talking negatively about yourself
things like “I am not talented, I don’t deserve this, I can never be happy”
You always, talk negatively of yourself in your mind more than any other person does to you.
A negative mind leads to negative emotions as well that affect your happiness and everything else in your life.
You don’t feel good about yourself after all that negative talk
Leaving this habit and start practicing positive self-talk instead, will help you feel positive and confident about yourself!
+ It is going to leave a huge baggage of negativity in your life!
8. Bad habits
Certain times, it is the tiny bad habits in our lives that lead to an unhappy life. Something we do every day that lowers our mood.
You have to find that bad habit yourself by becoming mindful of what you do every day, and after doing what, you end up feeling this way.
It can be anything from the food you eat to not moving your body or being too much on your phone!
Figure that out and let it go from your life
Here are some posts on toxic habits to give up
9 Let go of your past
Many people are stuck in their past, which creates an unhappy present and future.
You are always stuck on what has happened and not moved on from it. That leads to forgetting to be present at the moment and most importantly, not enjoying when you get the opportunity to enjoy!
What happened in the past does not define your whole life, unless you move on and let go.
You will keep repeating the same cycle! It is essential to learn from what happened and emotionally let go.
Make the best out of what is in front of you!
10. Toxic relationships
Relationships are a huge aspect of life.
You can have 3 to 4 people in your life that make you feel safe and joyful, but one toxic person can drain the energy out of you and make your life miserable.
That’s how strong negativity is.
You must let go of them to be happy and peaceful in life
11. Give up on Comparison
11th on the list of things you should give up to be happy Is comparison
Comparing ourselves, and our lives with others has a lot of negative effects on our lives because the moment we see someone in a better place than us.
We feel sad and envious,
With the boom in social media usage, it has become quite natural for all of us to subconsciously compare our lives to others on the feed.
We compare their amazing highlights to our worst days and feel sad.
If we shift our focus to comparing ourselves with only ourselves and trying to be better than we were yesterday
It would actually, help us in moving forward in our life than affecting our mental health!
12. Give up on the idea of happiness as per society
The main reason we always feel unhappy is that we have the idea of happiness wrong.
The idea is that society created happiness. Happiness depends on success, things you own reaching the top, and so on, we should always be happy.
Happiness is one of the emotions out of 1000s. We cannot expect to only feel happy 24×7
As we have different experiences in life, there will be instances when we will feel scared, worried, unhappy, and so on.
Acknowledge that it is a part of being human and living life.
Happiness is not that difficult either – read 23 Simple Habits to add happiness to your life
13. Give up on perfectionism
Perfectionism can be a huge factor for many to live an unhappy life. Wanting a perfect life and trying to be perfect at everything can make you feel exhausted and disappointed.
You have to know that nobody is perfect and can’t be. There are things you might do excellent at, but there will be others as well as you may not be the best at.
You may make mistakes and experience failure as well.
Don’t let this affect you and make you feel miserable. Give up the idea of perfectionism, and instead of focusing on doing your best and learning as you go!
14. Give up on your comfort zone.
Staying in your comfort zone might make you feel safe and peaceful right now, but this habit will never push you to do what you want and fulfill your dreams
things we want to do and things that help us grow in life, most often require us to push out of our comfort zone and feel the discomfort to grow and achieve our dreams
Later on, then help you live your dream life that brings you immense happiness.
But staying in comfort leads to never trying anything challenging and being stuck in the same place.
It makes you unhappy or unsatisfied in life
15. Give up on criticism
Lastly, one thing you should give up to be happy is criticism.
Constantly judging others or yourself welcomes more negativity in life. Spending so much time and energy criticizing things around you is unhealthy.
The energy you put out in the world, comes back to you. The same goes for criticism.
On top of that, you are wasting so much of your energy and time on something so insignificant.
If you use that time to talk about positive things and have deep conversations with others, you will feel happier in life!
Conclusion
So these were the 15 things you should give up to be happy, all things have once contributed to making my life unhappy or negative
After letting go of these one by one, I have found so much peace and happiness.
if you have stumbled upon one thing from the above list that you often do. trying to let go of it and observe the change it brings in your life!
Good Luck!
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This post was all about things you should give up to be happy
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