I sometimes wonder if we are happy but we just don’t know it. What I mean is that we spend so long chasing “being happy” that we don’t realise that it is the wrong thing to do. If we perceive happiness as being a lack in our life then we will keep looking for it and become upset when we fail; whereas if we just allow ourselves to be – one day we wake up and find out, “actually I am quite happy right now.”
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nIn gambling terms – it’s a bit like the more I think about how great it would be to gamble – but I know I can’t do it; the more tempted I am to go ahead – it is only when I stop thinking about gambling altogether and get on with the rest of my life, do my gambling thoughts and desires disappear.
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nMark Manson puts it better than me (but some of his language is a bit rich!) https://markmanson.net/stop-trying-to-be-happy
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nFacebook isn’t real. People post when they are having a great time getting drunk with friends on the Friday night – they don’t post the hangover / diarrhoea / puking on the Saturday lunchtime. Enjoy your own life whatever it is – don’t go poking about wondering what everyone else is doing. I never go out on a Friday and Saturday night now as these are teaching times for me. Okay – I am 63 and an old fart, but my students are not – one of them (in his mid 20’s) living in Rio – would rather spend part of his night learning English than partying on Copacabana beach!
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nOh – and if classical music is not causing you a problem in your life – then I don’t think it can be called an addiction. If it is then I am guilty because I have BBC Radio 3 on most of the time (it can be listened to from anywhere in the world!) Try the Shostakovitch Cello and Violin concertos … and if I get to choose my funeral music it will be this piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlMHjo7Jwhk
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nI’ve gone through the deeply unhappy periods and come through – I am sure you can too. Just look at what makes you happy and do more of it – including the music! 🙂
