Have you ever put your happiness on a credit card?
I’m not talking about spending money you don’t have. Or buying that new pair of shoes you can’t afford to make yourself feel good. Cause those kicks are sick and you should have ’em.
What I’m talking about is financing your present day well-being. Telling yourself…
“I’m going to forgo being happy today so that I can be happy in the future.”
Willing to bring yourself into happiness debt in the present, with the hope that you will pave a future so bright it will pull you out of debt and into bliss.
Things like:
“Once I achieve [goal] I will be happy.”
“I will be happier when I make [amount of money].”
“After I am on that plane headed to [vacation destination] I will feel good about myself.”
I have. Oh dear have I.
But here is the truth:
**Happiness only exists in the present.**
This very moment. In the now.
It cannot be financed. It cannot be saved or stored. It is not a stock, but a flow. You either have it passing through you or you don’t.
If you are unhappy today and you accept that because in three months you will be at Disneyland, I have news for you:
“You won’t be happy then either.”
Because whatever bliss you derive from that future moment will be stolen from you. You will never *become* happy. You either are or are not.
Happiness is not lack of pain. If you are at the gym *getting yoked* and your muscles are bulging and veins popping and you are about to crap your pants with discomfort…
“You can still be happy in that moment.”
With purpose. Appreciation. Drive. Commitment. Authenticity. Awareness. Consciousness. Acceptance.
Happiness does not mean lack of pain. And it does not mean comfort.
It is light. Bright. Weightless. Felt to the bone when absent. Ever apparent when present.
There is no such thing as a happiness credit card. It’s an illusion. An apparition our rational brain organized for us to feel ok about not bringing out our best self in this moment. It is the comfort we build for ourselves to go the easy way. To avoid the tough conversations. The hard decisions.
The lie we tell ourselves. Then accept. Then believe.
I decided today that I’m going to cut up my happiness credit cards.
I’m going to rid myself of my happiness debt.
You ready to be happy?
Cut up those cards and join me my friends.
Until next time.