advice, Self Growth

What Truly Makes You Happy?

mindbeautysimplicity

A sequential glide of a pen. The musical sound of fingers tapping one key after the other. Thoughts racing as the words spill out on the page. To me, this is paradise.

I have a book recommendation for you all. The Path Made Clear by Oprah Winfrey. I stumbled upon this book a few years ago & it changed my perspective on life. We humans feel almost guilty when feeling lost or not knowing which path is the correct one to take. You’ll get recommendations from all sides & although advice can be helpful, I find the best way to really find your way is to soul search & dive deep into what makes you, you.

Take ownership of your strengths, your short comings, what you’ve loved in the past & what you love now. Truly ask yourself, “What Makes Me Happy?”

You know what makes me happy?

Writing.

Looking back, my whole life I’ve loved the craft. I would keep journals of my thoughts, hopes & dreams for so many years.

I wrote short stories at 7 years old. I made children’s books out of construction paper & sold them to my neighbors. My one neighbor still has one of my “books” to this day.

As a little girl, I wanted to be like Harriet from Harriet the Spy & write down everything. As I got older, I dreamed of becoming a journalist & tv reporter. I was nosy, loved drama & always wanted to find out the scoop on everything. Every chance I took whether it was for fun or my high school newspaper, I was always writing. But unfortunately, like many of us do, I listened too hard to other people.

They would tell me newspapers were a dying bread & you can’t make lots of money doing that. Or they would tell me journalists were too saturated & I wouldn’t be unique enough. I became hard on myself, not thinking I would be good enough. So I changed my path.

And the path I chose isn’t terrible. I’m still proud of my accomplishments. It’s just funny how writing always seems to come back to my life in some form. My Nana used to call me the future Barbara Walters. 😊

Since I listened to others more than myself, I spent my college years learning about the human mind & personalities. Although I found it interesting, I always felt like something was off. One semester I decided to take one writing course, & ended up being referred to the college newspaper the following semester.

And guess what? I loved it!

Clearly, I’ve been oblivious to my calling. I brush it off as something I can do well, I guess? But always went with plans b, c & d.

It wasn’t until I read this passage in Oprah’s book that everything just clicked. It was in that moment I was like “yes, this is me.”

When it comes to your life, you have to find what makes you light up. Sure, I’m not saying you won’t find a career that pays bills well. Or maybe you like doing something as merely a hobby. I believe people can have multiple paths.

It’s so very important to not lose your passions. Passions are what make us stand out from the crowd. And although people might not see the vision, as long as you do, that’s all that should matter.

Take yourself back to when you were really young & people would ask you, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” Before society tainted your outlook on the world, what was it?

Yes I dreamed of being a journalist. But I also wanted to be an artist, a teacher for a while & an actress.

Clearly, I have a very creative soul. And I try to engage those traits through other ways. No, I may not have an abundance of acrylic paint & paint brushes, but I do have makeup brushes & I find my makeup routine to be an art in itself. I also love decorating the house & design in general.

These are the attributes that make me who I am. And I wouldn’t give that up for anything. As long as you enrich yourself in activities that feed the soul, happiness can be just around the corner.

My path led me to writing once again this year through blogging. The combination of sheer boredom [especially during stay at home order] & having the time, I decided why not write? I remember laying awake at night & wondering what I would do to fill my time. And the idea came to me like a freight train. I’ve considered it in the past but my insecurities always seemed to bite me in the ass. “What would people think?” “I’ll be made fun of.”

I don’t know if it’s my age or what, but I just don’t care what people think of me anymore. If it makes me happy, I’m going to do it.

And so, I shall write. I shall write until my hands are sore, because it’s one of the things I love.

And sure, I may not be the next Barbara Walters. But I’m B, & I think she’s pretty cool.

– B 🌿💕

🥰

Published by mindbeautysimplicity

38 thoughts on “What Truly Makes You Happy?”

  2. What a wonderful post! My mother always told me that writing wasn’t a real profession, so like you, I was talked into studying something different in college. It was business for me. I hated it! I hated being in an office, going to meetings, etc. and would often spend my work time writing. Then one day, I called it quits and started writing for a living. I wrote anything – from marketing pieces on the history of boats to descriptions for a pet products catalog. It didn’t matter, I was writing and I was happy. That was 14 years ago and I’m now a freelance grant writer and a blogger. I couldn’t agree with you more – follow your passion no matter what! Thanks for the inspiring post!

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  3. I enjoyed reading your story! I have written some posts on passion and self-discovery if you want to check those out. Many people look for job security and not their passion, which leads to much unhappiness. So, I’m glad you decided to start your passion! If not, why not? 🙂

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  4. What a lovely post- and I feel you as a creative type myself- so happy you’re into blogging:) Love your blog and thanks for visiting mine! Please come link your posts up on my weekly Fabulous Friday Linkup at http://www.lucybertoldi.com I’m sure my readers would love reading this. Have a great week!

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  8. This is great advice! I am a firm believer that we are responsible for our own happiness, and this is an important step in that process. Find what makes you happy in life and make time for it! Make it a priority. Like you, I adore writing and that has built into a freelance writing career. I took a pay cut from my former career when I made the switch, but it has been 110% worth it (plus my income is building now on this new journey lol).

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  20. Great Post and being fellow creatives we totally get you. Passion is the purpose to live. When you love what you do you spread so much more positivity around. People find your energy infectious and that can spur them on to doing what they love. If we were taught more about how to harness all the things we love – I guarantee the world would be a much better place xxx

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