Happiness is overrated- A reality check you might need to hear today

Happiness is overrated.

As we stir upon the journey of life, the moments we experience exasperate to become the existence we dwell in. The story we tell our minds about the idealistic quality of our lives, whether we have achieved it or not, is the narrative that we hold for ourselves. Perception creates reality; quite arguably, the judgement of the worth we hold for ourselves is the reality we manifest. The worth that forges its being from the outside often stalls and cripples us into the notion of self-doubt. We are so rooted in being validated by the world that our happiness fosters a tendency to become like a ball bouncing from one side to another. When it hits the appreciation of others, our joy soars high, and when it is pushed away with criticism, it is nothing but a lie.

Happiness is an overrated emotion that we often miss-associate with mass validation and feeling merry forever. We are all miniature realities of the wider universe that surmounts our world. It is not melancholy that causes us agony; it is the idea of happiness that we create in our heads that elevates suffering. How often do we see the idea of our happiness placated by the fulfilment of our expectations? The answer is that we have all done it uncountably, and we have all dwelled in disappointment over not achieving the goals we wanted to achieve, the possessions we wanted to claim, and the relationships we yearned to last forever. The human heart carries pain that cannot be fathomed even by the poetic verses that claim to transcribe the depths of the ocean. Our hearts have known pain to the core; we know how it feels to be tattered with half-torn pieces of our hearts, and we are all accustomed to beholding them together just to survive, only to have a moment of transient merriment to feel alive, even if just for a second.

We are guilty of not giving ourselves enough credit for holding our shattered souls when all we want to do is shout out the silent whispers of hopelessness that our mind records in silent syllables. It is not pain or sadness we should be afraid of; the heart knows how to heal itself; it is the mind that needs to be tamed. Hold yourself with pride for the silent battles you have fought. And remember, you are not responsible for anyone else’s happiness but your own, and if it makes you happy, you do not need anyone else's validation to give yourself the allowance to be alive and not just survive.

I hope that when your faith in life is waning,

You remember the beauty that his eternal streams have to bestow.

When your heart gets too heavy with pain,

Learn to embrace gentleness and dance in the rain.

-Hridya