Sunday 29 May 2016

That's What Makes You Happy

Happy Sunday Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the long bank holiday (if you're in the UK)!
Sorry in advance that this is a little long but it is worth the read... I promise.

Over the years I've had periods of time where I have been extremely low and periods of time where I have been happy with life. I've had different definitions of what I feel makes me feel happy and sometimes have even felt low because I thought I could never be happy because of my extremely poor health. I've been so low that doctors, friends, family and work colleagues have notice and mentioned about it and the 'd' word ('depression') has been used on more than one occasion.

Before my poor health properly kicked in (and after tough years in school from bullies) I was enjoying life... I had great friends, great family, was enjoying college (never saw home I was out so much), loving living my dream of acting and then had the most amazing, life changing experience when I did Camp America. Sure, life wasn't perfect and I wasn't living my ultimate dream of living in America acting in movies and tv shows but I was enjoying life, had great people around me and experiencing a ton of things. My life then got turned upside down and it felt like I lost everything. I thought I'd lost all my friends and lost all hope of being in the entertainment industry and that my life was over. I felt like I would never eat again and was praying my life would just end (sorry if that's a lot to read). Nothing I was doing every went the way I wanted it to go and I just couldn't see myself every getting through it. I didn't want help from anyone and didn't want to go out or see anyone. I was finding ways to get through it and release all this negative energy in ways that just weren't healthy which I have never really gone into with anyone. I completely lost my way!

Over the past 6/7 months, my health took an even bigger turn for the worse and even more symptoms and conditions came to light. Once again, my negative mind set hit even further down that rock bottom. However, more recently, even though my health is still shitty (mind my french - sorry mum) I'm seeing things in a very different way. I'm managing to turn my negative thoughts into more positive ones, wanting to talk to people a little more and am beginning to find my way again. Don't get me wrong, I still have days where I want to curl up and not see or hear anyone - it is an on going thing. Nothing worth it is easy in life or happens over night.
I always had this vision that I would only ever truly be happy if everything was perfect and my health and body was in perfect shape. I became self conscious and felt down about things I've never felt like that about before. We see this image in Hollywood or even people around us who are all smiles and seem so happy with their (what we think is) perfect lives and if ours don't match that ours can't be. I would only ever see the negative in everything and was rolling out of bed not wanting to face the world.

There are all type of videos on the interweb... some extremely uplifting and inspiring and some that are ... well.... interesting lets just say. I became really inspired by the journey of a few youtubers in particular along with certain 'celebrities'. People who know me will know my absolute idol and favourite singer/actress ever is Demi Lovato. Between her, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Marissa Lace and Claudia Sulewski, something triggered in my head. They taught me that happiness comes from within. If you don't love you how can you expect someone else to? If you don't help look after yourself why should anyone else put their energy in trying to help you? If you take control of you life... how can you expect it to magically happen the way you want it? No amount of money can buy true happiness that will last.....

All the people above (and others of course) have said that happiness starts from within and that positive vibes bring in positive things. Everything we go through teaches us a lesson in one way or another and happens at a time where we are tested. Looking after yourself and seeing things in a positive way can really truly make a difference. These are the main points that I have been trying to

incorporate into my life:

  • Making time for me every day.
  • Starting the day by reading a page of my Stay Strong book that gives me an objective for the day to think about.
  • Doing something about one thing that bothers me and trying to find ways to achieve things I dream of doing and not letting anything make me believe it isn't possible.
  • Including some form of exercise or body condition every morning before starting the day (even just 2 minutes)
  • Be more aware about what I put into my body
  • Cutting people out my life who don't make me happy or bring positivity in my life
  • Appreciating who and what I do have in life
  • Remembering that being kind/friendly to everyone be it a friend, family or stranger can really change the way their week is going or even their day. - even just a simple hello how are you.
  • Setting myself a goal/s that I know a practical and can be achieved with hard work
  • Remember that everyone is growing through their own insecurities and difficulties that you can never truly understand but a simple hey or how are you can help them through the day. Being nice goes a long way


Regardless of how happy a person you are, some days are just harder but I have honestly noticed a huge difference just by doing the above 10 things and so have others around me. Don't get me wrong, I still have negative thoughts at times and let things get on top of me but I feel so much happier and have started seeing a future again. My little morning routine sets me up for a much better day. If you make an effort to turn the negative into a positive it starts to become more natural to think positively or at least have start thinking about both. Everyone is differently obviously but here is a quick break down of what I have been doing that has really been helping me to be in a much better place;

I get up in the morning, take my medicine and read that days page of my Demi Lovato 'Stay Strong' book that has different inspiring and encourages for each day. Once I have done that and been to the loo and all that jazz, I do a minute or two of mixed types of planks. Now although it is only a couple of minutes, it makes me feel like I am doing something good for my body. I then try and pick out healthier small snacks for the day rather than just chocolate and crisps (they're still included though duh) that I can keep myself going for the day. Once I have done that I then get myself dressed and ready for the day. I've started trying to turn negative things or things I thought were horrible into positive things and ways that they are a positive thing. Although none of these are major things, together they all work together to have some positive structure to my own life. 
In doing this, I have started feeling a passion about things I had lost passion for or had given up on. It has shown me that everything can be changed when we put our mind to it. Happiness isn't about having the perfect figure, or perfect health and a ton of friends with a huge pay check each month. Happiness comes from what we make of life. If we don't make an effort to work towards what our heart desires and how we choose to make our life. If we have people around us who put us down all the time, how can you ever feel good about things? How you wake up and start your day is what sets up the rest of the day. We will never be able to make everyone else happy with what we do, but as long as we make ourselves happy.... who cares!

I've started looking into things that I want to achieve and experience in the future and begun to find me again. I've learnt who my true friends are and to be honest, I wouldn't even say I lost any friends in the process, I've just found out who were actually friends and who was there for good times and for them. The mind is a very powerful thing. What is the point of just existing? Why earn money just to live when you can earn it to experience things that will make you never want life to end and make you love it and smile. A smile is priceless!!


I'd love to hear the things you do and what things you would say are what really makes you happy.

Have a great day
Stay Strong
<3

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