Professional success or personal happiness? (Assume you can only have one) - Which would you choose and why?
Family and friends who know me for years will definitely know the answer. Without any hesitation, it's definitely personal happiness for me.
Personal happiness means a lot to me, and I think we live primarily to enjoy our lives and be happy. For me, happiness can exist in many forms and be interpreted in many ways.
On a basic level, it's probably your state of mind or your mood on a daily basis. Life's tough sometimes, and we all have bad days, but I think it's worth the effort to always start our day being happy and look forward to whatever comes our way. It's also a mindset I guess, and I have learnt over time to be more optimistic in my life, and always believe that things will get better over time.
For me, happiness at this basic level is easy to obtain. Whenever I need to lift my moods, and get over an unhappy incidents, one way is to turn to good food and desserts! It could be just a good burger and fries...
Or a nice cup of matcha latte...
Or perhaps a slice of cake!
If food's not available, I could go for a walk and/or listen to some upbeat music to cheer myself up.
On a more deeper level, I think happiness relates to how we perceive our lives in a longer term outlook. This could be in terms of the big aspects of our lives, e.g. our relationships, our jobs, our health, our wealth, etc. It's deeper because these issues are complex and it's not something that goes away after a slice of cake or a cup of coffee. We all have to face these challenges in our lives, and to me, finding happiness in these things comes from being contented with what you have, and at the same time, always striving to make the best with what you have as well. If relationships are strained, try to find ways to work it out. If we have difficulties at the workplace, try to find solutions. Same with health and finance issues. There's always got to be a way.
While it's incredibly difficult to be happy with all aspects of your life, I think a lot of it comes with being contented, being appreciative, and being optimistic, and also, don't be too hard on yourself.
So that's personal happiness to me, it's always a work in progress for me, to become a better self each day, and have fun experiencing the ups and downs in life. What about you?
