Seeking happiness amid pandemic
LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP It has been more than a year since the outbreak of COVID-19. Just when we thought that the vaccines would enable the world to see light at end of tunnel in 2021, mutant variants have led to multiple waves of infections across countries. In Singapore, we are in a month-long of heightened alert, with new measures being implemented to curb the spread of the virus. Against this depressing backdrop, I thought it is useful to pen down some thoughts on happiness habits.
No doubt about it. Pandemic has caused many to feel anxious, depressed and stressed out. The social restrictions and public health measures not only upend our social and work routines, they have also contributed to plenty of financial woes as those working in sectors badly hit got laid off. With these challenges confronting us on a daily basis, finding happiness may seem like easier said than done.
Indeed, I am not going to sugar-coat and claim that finding happiness is a straightforward thing. It does take effort but it is not unattainable. To achieve happiness, there is a need to shift our mental modal. Given that there are reports of rising mental health cases in Singapore, I hope this article will serve as a motivation to inspire people to take charge of their lives and harness the power of happiness.
Building wealth, fostering happiness
As wealth builders, we cannot ignore the importance of happiness. Many of us have the assumption that if we find success, then happiness will follow. To be honest, this is often not the case. Take for example, a person may think that nailing that promotion will give him a pay rise and creates happiness. But the positive feeling will surely fade away after a while. With more responsibilities, he could end up more even stressed and miserable.
Instead of making success the core of happiness, we should make happiness the core of success. This means that we should give priority to happiness over our desires for external things. Very often, we let our desires drive us to achieve certain goals. We would feel excited when we got the results that we desired. But then again, such feelings are often temporary happiness. They don’t last forever.
A more permanent form of happiness is internal satisfaction – learning how to be happy inside. We all like to compare ourselves with the others. Singaporeans often like to compare their school grades, social status, wealth with the others. Although such a competitive culture can push us to better our lives, we often lose sight what truly make us happy. Have you asked yourself what truly make you happy? Does having a lot of money bring you happiness? End of the day, we must realize that being rich does not necessarily brings you happiness.
Truth be told, happiness does not occur by chance. It requires constant effort. In the following, I will share three happiness habits that may help you to foster the state of happiness.
Define your happiness
Have you ever paused to ask yourself what does happiness really mean to you? It is a tough question for most people to be honest. When I spend time with my kids, they love to hear my stories during meal times. Sometimes, I tried to inject moral values in those little stories. Most of the times, the stories are just plain fantasies meant to stimulate their creativity. For me, these bonding times bring little pockets of joy.
On a personal level, blogging gives me much happiness. The opportunity to share my insights and thoughts through this blog motivates me to keep on blogging for so many years (I started this blog in 2010). It is this passion that pushes me to keep on blogging day after day, months after months and years after years. Of course, there are times that I felt so tired from work and family that I just did not want to blog. However, those down moments were banished quickly as I find personal joy and internal satisfaction when I blog.
Happiness must be defended
Happiness does not happen by default nor does it occur by chance. You need to defend your happiness, otherwise it will just slip away from you. By this, I mean you need to build your resilience. Many of us are wired to avoid setbacks and failures. However, to be successful and happy, we must have a tolerance for setbacks. As we only learn from our past mistakes, we would not be able to achieve our goals if we are afraid of making mistakes.
One of my biggest inspirations comes from my childhood friend who is a successful real estate broker. Many people who don’t know him thought that he had it easy or he was just plain lucky to achieve such phenomenal success in the real estate sector. Yet, most people did not know that his path to success did not come easy. Through the decades, he had overcome numerous challenges to achieve success. Some of these challenges entailed life-changing events. Truth be told, I am not sure if I were to encounter similar challenges, I would be able to emerge stronger like he did. But somehow, he managed to bounce back from these setbacks. One important lesson that I learned from him is that we must have a purpose in life. Without a purpose, it will be difficult to motivate nor derive happiness in what you do.
Focus on the positives
You can never be happy if your mind is full of negative thoughts. We need to channel our energy on what can go right and not let our negativity affect the outcomes which we desired to achieve. Negative thoughts can occur anywhere, anytime and from anyone. That is why I am careful to put barricades between me and negative people. Staying away from negative people gives me inner peace.
Early this year, I was given the opportunity to go for COVID-19 vaccines. Initially, I was a bit hesitant to go for the immunization because of some concerns of long-term side effects. Some of my friends also shared the same concerns and decided not to go for the vaccination. After some inner struggles, I went for the vaccination in February. I told myself I am doing this for my family sake. As I am a frontline worker, I would be putting my family members at risk if I do not go for vaccination. Instead of worrying about the potential side-effects, I opted to focus on the positive outcomes.
Conclusion
I hope this article has managed to reach out to you and convince you the merits of signing up SG Wealth Membership. Don’t procrastinate anymore my friend. This is about building long-term relationship and I certainly look forward to you coming on board. Together, we can forge a better tomorrow.
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