FYI, if you know me, you're going to hear me ask, "Why?" a lot more than I used to. I just finished reading Tony Hsieh's book, Delivering Happiness and it's exactly what I needed. When I was finishing it, the famous line of Bud Lightyear made me tear up, you know which one, and I thought to myself, why aren't you happy? Why haven't you been happy? Why can't you be happy?
All of this could stem from the most ridiculous life changes I've gone through in my life all coming at the same time. I sold most of my things, sold my house, sold my truck, and followed a girl to the big city from a little town in Pennsylvania about 9 months ago. I took the first job I was offered as a recruiter at a great boutique agency called TTS Staffing. I sold a non-fiction book from a blog I started a few years ago. I sold a novel. Then, because I recruited for big ad agencies in the city, I fell in love with their world. I decided that I wanted to be a copywriter. So, instead of telling people I wanted to, I just did it. Everything in my professional life was taking off and then, the week I started writing copy, my girlfriend broke up with me.
I was in a bad place when I finished reading Tony's book, but there was a section at the end speaking of Maslow's Hierarchy that just clicked. And it clicked hard. He said that there are three types of happiness Pleasure, Passion, and Higher Purpose. I read them as Sex, Love, and Rock n' Roll, because sex is the quick happiness, passion is the longer term happiness, and if you find your higher purpose, you'll have lifelong happiness, and in all reality, that's what we're all looking for, right?
So, all of that being said... why aren't I happy, other than the broken heart thing...?
All of my goals are long-term, rock n' roll dreams. And trust me, they're coming. But, quick happiness fizzes out for me quicker than the Starbucks I'm writing this at gets me my drink. Love...er... passion, I haven't been writing the new novel yet, the other two books are sitting in the helm, waiting to go out, and I just started in the copy world, so it's all more aligned to the rock n' roll happiness. Which, is few and far between, because it's so far in the future.
Again, why can't I just focus on the sex and love side of happiness? I never asked myself or allowed myself to live in the moment. And it just happened. I finished reading Delivering Happiness on the subway on the way to work and I couldn't wait to get to my table at the coffee shop and fire this out to you. If there are mistakes throughout, I'm sorry, I needed to tell you all of this.
So, plans for the future to create happiness:
1. Make someone else happy, today.
2. Write this blog and try to share my experiences throughout my journey to rock stardom.
3. Start writing book 3 (it's already outlined and ready to go, just need to do it).
4. Think about the opportunity that you have at "work." I put quotes because, I've never had so much fun doing the work.
5. Instead of being mad about everything, like has been happening more and more recently, just ask myself, why? Why are you mad? Why can't you move past this? Why are you harping on the negative?
I actually did this with the book in my hand this morning. I wasn't paying attention and got off the train at the wrong stop. I could have sulked and been angry for making the mistake, but instead, I looked down at the book and said to myself, "Perfect, I'm early to work (as always) and have time to finish the book."
It's one step at a time, people. Dreams and goals and wants are all the same thing if you break them down and do something about them.
The opportunity is yours, but don't squander your life like I was, living every day waiting for the future to finally arrive. Grab onto today and make it what you want it to be. I'm going to!
(to be continued)
