I'm starting this post with a comment to anyone who took offense to my comment about the handful of happy pills...I wasn't speaking about people who have legitimate medical issues. The conversation was about those people who fall to their vices to be happy, alcoholics, drug users, etc.
One of the things I've learned, is that sometimes it is necessary to be a little more exciting in life. Don't fall to a daily grind, no matter how great it seems it will get you down sooner or later. It is necessary to move forward in life, doing the same thing day in and day out is being stagnate. When you are going through a difficult time emotionally it maybe necessary to grind it out for a while, but that isn't conducive to having a great life.
People are attracted to people who do things, if your routine is get up, go to work, come home, sit at the TV and have dinner, then go to bed, I would think that would be a very depressing life. Change it up every now and again. When you break the routine you will find yourself healthier and happier. Now I can hear a lot of people saying to me, I can't afford to do anything different, or I'm too tired after work, etc. Those are things that I said for years, I wasn't happy, and I wasn't finding happiness. Now that isn't the only routine that you can get stuck in. This is the problem, people don't realize that it isn't hard to get trapped by familiarity.
Familiarity is what causes people to stay in bad relationships, it is a very dangerous thing because it sneaks up on us too fast. As I am writing this post, I'm thinking of the dos equis commercial with the most interesting man in the world. He is interesting because he has done so many different things, he has been to a lot of different places. He has things to talk about and stories to tell. If it is the same old same old then you won't be like that.
I have found in my experience, that the more people I meet, the more things I do, the better I feel about myself and about my life. Happiness is something that you have to find inside yourself. The first step, is identify your routine. That could be sitting in front of the TV after work, or going to the same bar and talking to the same people, maybe going to the same group meetings. Step out on a limb, if getting out is hard for you then, go to the park and take a walk in the sunshine. Instead of ordering fast food go to a sit down diner its only a few dollars more than the golden arcs.
Another thing that you can do is get out there and take a class, if you look hard enough you can find opportunities to do stuff that doesn't cost much or not at all. I'm sorry, I know that it is work, but believe me, it is worth it, plus it gets easier as you get to know people. Sometimes, try something that you don't think that you would enjoy just for the sake of trying it out. When I was a kid, I didn't like to eat my vegetables, or anything I didn't know about for that matter, but my dad always told me to "try it, I might like it." If you want to find your life to be fulfilling, you can't know unless you do.
Everyone that I know that suffers with some form of depression, falls into the trap. Don't let yourself get caught in the trap, find happiness, by being as interesting as you can be. You will find that the more things you experience and the more that you do, the more people will like you, and that can lead to all kinds of good things, a happier relationship, a better paying job, more friends, a better life. You only get one time around, go see a few concerts, do stuff you don't like just to say that you did it.
There have been many times that I went and did stuff that I didn't want to do and it ended up good. I went to an Autodesk Users Group meeting and ended up getting a job and meeting a lot of great contacts. I tried debate and loved it, I met girls while doing things I didn't want to, it is just a matter of having the right attitude. I've had great experiences doing some of those things, and sometimes I found that I really enjoyed it. One memory takes me back to July of 1995 when my brother asked me to go to Promise Keepers with him. That ended up being a great time for bonding and an experience that I'll never forget.
You have to allow yourself to do things. Sometimes you won't want to do them, while my friends were in shop, I was in home EC. Well I was glad to be there, cause that's where the girls were. Do things in life that will enrich your life, and don't be scared to try things whether you think you'll like it or not. Take the time to see and do as much as this life has to offer, if you don't your world maybe full of regrets. I don't ever want to look back and say I should have done this or I could have done this. That is one great secret to living a great life, the more you experience, the better it will be.
