All that most of us want out of life is to be happy. *Cue Kirk Franklin*
As simple as it sounds, why does it seem so hard? It feels like this lifelong journey that makes it almost impossible to know if we've arrived. Yes, there are moments that make us happy, from good food to even greater friends and family. But in general, are we really happy with our day to day lives?
Sometimes we don't realize that we're not happy until we face an obstacle and wonder why it took such an emotional toll on us.
For me, I had to evaluate several aspects of my life. I was a people pleaser who cared way too much about what other people thought, and I was cock-blocking myself from living my best life. It wasn't until I got to a point where I intentionally started embracing a happier life that I started to actually live one.
1.What Makes You Happy? Do That.
Think about the moments when you were at your happiest in life. What were doing? What made you laugh? What was it about those moments that you enjoyed?
Whatever it is, do more of that.
As much as we want it to, happiness doesn't just come to us whenever we want, or even whenever we need it. Thank God for the unexpected and pleasant surprises that make us happy, but we have to be intentional about going after what we know will make us smile and laugh. Taking advantage of even the smallest moments that put a smile on your face and doing more of it will make a world of difference in your happiness.
2.Know That You Deserve It
You know those times when we cheer on other people like, "Yaasss! Go bestfriend, that's my bestfriend!"?
Is it just me or is it really hard to do this for ourselves? To some, having pride is somehow associated with being conceited. In reality, it's not bad to cheer yourself on at all. Not doing it brings on this subconscious theme that we don't deserve good things like other people do. This can definitely mess with your happiness.
So whether it's those small moments like when your eyebrows finally come out the way you've been practicing, or major life changing moments like getting engaged or earning a major promotion at work, don't hesitate to let yourself know, "She did that!" just like you would for anyone else. Start doing this and watch your happiness flourish.
3.Don’t Focus On Things You Can’t Change
The popular serenity saying about knowing the difference between the things you can and cannot change is some real stuff.
A lot of times the frustration out of life comes from trying to change things that we simply can't and then focusing on and complaining about it. I can't lie, a lot of the times it feels good in the moment to have a vent session. But if you come out of it feeling the same with no solution, it does more harm to your happiness than good.
The more we talk about a situation or person we can't stand, the worse that situation will seem to be. And the only thing that's getting impacted is your happiness. I've had to learn myself that the sooner we come to terms with what a situation really is, and that we have no power to change it, the happier we'll be.
To be clear, this doesn't apply to a toxic situation or even social change that we're continuing to strive toward.
4.Help Make Others Happy
It's like when you're taking a picture of a group of people and smile behind the camera as if you're actually in the snapshot. There's just something about putting a smile on someone else's face that makes us happy.
Of course, there's a heavy line between this and just living for other people and completely forgetting about yourself. It's really about service and thinking of ourselves less. As important as our own happiness is to our well-being, it's also essential to take moments to get outside of ourselves and invest in someone else's happiness. Doing this really has a crazy way of boosting your own joy.
5.Know That Comparison Kills
Clearly not literally, but comparison does have the potential to kill your happiness and your dreams. There have been so many times where I'm completely content with where I am in life until I scroll on social media and see someone around my age (or even younger) making moves that I haven't even fathomed. Yes, I can celebrate them, clap it up, and put the heart emojis under their posts. But at times, it makes me feel like I'm supposed to be doing more.
In actuality, I know I'm right where I need to be.
Still, when comparison creeps in, it can make anyone question so many things and have us going in a direction that's not for us. I've realized that celebrating others, especially women, when they reach their goals and do amazing things, doesn't mean I have to try and get in their lane. It actually makes me feel more confident about my own.
In essence, realizing the toxicity of comparison and being intentional about not letting it get the best of you, is essential to being happy.
6.Phone A Friend
Having a close-knit circle of friends and relationships is a major key to your happiness. They let you know you're not doing this thing called life alone.
As humans, we thrive off of friendships and relationships. Even if you're not a people-person, everyone needs at least a couple of good friends they can talk to about anything. With friends and family, you experience so many ups and downs together. But having them with you during the down moments and vice versa helps you live a happier life.
7.Live For YOUR Happiness
Big ups to all my people pleasers. I can't even say this used to be me because I still legit struggle. Making decisions that I know are best for me, that people who are close to me have an issue with, is not easy at all.
But at the same time, I know I'm not going to be completely happy until I do what I want in life. Whether it's a career, or even eating a burger, if it's not something that's dangerous and harmful to you, who cares what anyone else thinks about it? Life is just way too short to live it for other people; especially in making decisions you don't want to, just to make others happy.
When it comes to your own life, your happiness is what matters the most.
Featured image by Giphy
- 20 Simple Ways to Live a Healthy, Happy Life ›
- 10 Ways to Be Happier - Real Simple ›
- 15 Essential Habits for a Happy Life | Live and Dare ›
- 11 Ways to Live a Happier Life, According to a Psychologist (Hint ... ›
- 4 Ways to Live A Happy Life - wikiHow ›
- How to Live a Happy Life: 10 Things to Say Yes to Starting Today ›
- 16 Things to Let Go to Live a Truly Happy Life ›
- 103 Ways to Live a Happier Life ›
- 15 Simple Ways to Live a Happy Life | HuffPost ›
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Ding. Ding. DING.
A life coach by the name of Thomas Leonard once said that “Clarity affords focus” and, believe you me, when it comes to dealing with other human beings, if you don’t get clear on where you stand when it comes to your interactions with them, you can very easily find yourself “focusing too much” on those who don’t deserve it and too little on those who absolutely do. And y’all, this lil’ PSA couldn’t be more relevant than when it comes to what I call “casual friendships.”
Let’s dig — and for some of us, dig our way out of — what it means to have a casual friend, so that you can get clear on if you really need those in your life…and if so…why?
Article continues after the video.
It Can’t Be Said Enough: Always Remember What “Casual” Means
GiphyThere’s a reason why I decided to share two videos by mental health coach Isaiah Frizzle at the top and bottom of this article. It’s because a lot of what he shares in both of them complements a piece that I wrote for the platform last year entitled, “This Is Just What Purposeful Relationships Look Like.”
It’s the author M. Scott Peck who once said, “Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it” and please believe that the older (and hopefully more mature) you get, the more you tend to see just how valuable — and fleeting — time is; and that is what plays a huge role in motivating you want to only involve yourself with people, places, things and ideas that will honor your time — and when something is casual? In my opinion, it’s highly debatable that it’s worth much of your months, days, hours, or even too many of your minutes.
The main reason why is addressed in an article that I wrote back in the day entitled, “We Should Really Rethink The Term 'Casual Sex.'” The gist? When it comes to relationships, “casual” is certainly not a favorite word of mine because I know what it means. Have mercy — why would you want to invest your time, energy, and emotions into something that is, by definition, apathetic, indifferent, careless, lacking emotional intimacy, and/or is without purpose?
I don’t know about y’all but that sounds like a complete and total crap shoot to me — especially if you are going to go so far as to consider this type of dynamic a true friendship (check out “Ever Wonder If A Friend Is Just...Not That Into You?,” “6 Signs You're About To Make A Huge Mistake In Making Them A Close Friend,” “5 Signs Of A Toxic Friendship That Is Secretly Poisoning Your Life,” “12 Friend Facts That Might Cause You To Rethink (Some Of) Your Own,” and “Less & Less Of Us Have Close Friends These Days. Why Is That?” ).
To me, when you decide to call someone “friend,” it means that they are loyal, reliable, consistent, trustworthy and willing to be there to support you to the very best of their ability — even if it’s inconvenient to do so sometimes (check out “Life Taught Me That True Friendships Are 'Inconvenient'”). How in the world can you expect that from something that has the word “casual” in it?
And you know what? That actually segues into my next point about casual friendships pretty darn well.
Ponder the Purpose “Casual Friends” Serve in Your Life
GiphyA couple of years ago, Verywell Mind published an article entitled, “How the 4 Types of Friendship Fit Into Your Life.” The four that it listed were acquaintances (which I actually don’t consider to be friends; check out “6 Differences Between A Close Acquaintance And An Actual Friend”), casual friends, close friends, and lifelong friends. After reading the piece, I think they consider casual friends to be the “pleasure” friends that I mentioned in the article, “According To Aristotle, We Need ‘Utility’, ‘Pleasure’ & ‘Good’ Friends.”
And although I certainly get that, I think my “cause for pause” is calling those people “friends” when they probably should be called something like an associate or possibly even a buddy instead. Why do I feel this way? Well, I’ve shared in other articles that I think social media has jacked up vocabulary words and their true meaning on a billion different levels.
Take “friend,” for example. Facebook had us out here calling everyone we connected to on their platform “friends” when some of them, we’ve never even spoken to before — and I personally think that influenced, affected and perhaps even infected our psyche to the point where we will call folks, both online and off, “friend” even when they haven’t earned it and/or who possibly don’t deserve it.
That said, do I think that we all could use lighthearted interactions that don’t go very deep and are filled with not much more than fun? Sure. However, if we were to move this over into a sexual thing — those types of people would probably be called a sneaky link, and there is nothing significant or substantial about ‘em. In fact, if anything pretty much automatically comes with an expiration date, sneaky links would have to be it.
And that’s kind of the point that I’m trying to make about a casual friend — so long as you know that the word “casual” is being used to describe them, while you may enjoy the people who fit that bill, they aren’t really anything that you can or even should fully rely on. Instead, take them for what they are and don’t really expect much more than that. Otherwise, you could be in for some profound levels of disappointment. And who wants that?
Final point.
How a Casual Friend Can Become a Huge Red Flag
GiphyI’m telling you, y’all gonna quit clowning Tubi. LOL. To me, the best way to describe it is it’s the Cricket of current streaming apps. What I mean by that is, back when Cricket (the cell phone service) first came out, people, like me, who used it service got incessantly clowned because it was seen as a bootleg provider. Now it’s owned by AT&T, and as someone who has rocked with them since I was in my 20s, I don’t have one regret for doing so. Cricket has always been good to me, chile.
And Tubi? Well, when you get a chance, check out CNBC’s article, “CEO at 33, Tubi’s Anjali Sud on success hacks she learned at Amazon, IAC on way to top of Fox streaming” — take note of the moves the streaming app is making and the quality of programming that is transpiring in real time.
Anyway, I find myself bringing up Tubi more and more in my content because it helps to amplify some of the points that I like to make. This time, it’s a movie that’s (currently) on there calledRight Man, Wrong Woman. If you haven’t seen it before, I don’t want to give too much of the film away. What I will say is that the main female character, she had a casual friend and then she had a close friend.
That casual friend—the one who liked to kick it all of the time—was a lot of fun; however, dealing with her came with a ton of semi-unforeseen consequences. Meanwhile, the close friend? She’s what the Aristotle article (that I mentioned earlier) would call the “good friend” because she tried her best to hold her friend accountable.
And really, it shouldn’t be a shock that the casual friend turned out to be a plum trip because if someone is loads of entertainment and pleasure and yet they are indifferent towards you, they make careless decisions around you and/or they don’t really make known the purpose for you being in their life other than to pass some time — where really do you and that person have to go past drinks after work or dinner on a rooftop restaurant from time to time? And if that is all that the two of you are doing, again, why are they deserving of the word “friend”?
Hmph and don’t get me started on the lack of reciprocity that typically transpires when it comes to dealing with people like this because, while they won’t mind you spending your coins on them, taking their calls in the middle of the night or listening to all of their issues — when it comes time for them to show up for you, they very well may gaslight you into thinking that you are being dramatic, clingy or “doing the most.” Why? Well, it’s mostly because the two of you never really established what the hell the both of you are to one another.
And so, while you’re somewhere taking them seriously, they are out here seeing you casually, and as much as it might hurt to hear, that doesn’t automatically or necessarily make them a bad person. You shouldn’t expect much where no clarity is involved. After all, casual is just that: CASUAL.
____
I’m hoping that you can now see why I entitled this piece in the way that I did. It’s because a red flag is pretty much a warning, and to me, a casual friend is about as big of an oxymoron (again, to me) as casual sex is. Friends and sex are both too intimate to be seen or treated casually. Oh, but if you step out and take that risk, you could find yourself getting far more involved than the other individual ever wanted to go, because casual is how things have always been. “Friend” was simply to get you more mentally and emotionally invested. SMDH.
American columnist Walter Winchell once said, “A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out.” A wise person once said, “One good friendship will outlive forty average loves." Former President Ulysses S. Grant once said, “The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity.” Does any of this sound casual to you? Yeah, me neither.
Again, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t have people in your life who aren’t on deep levels. I’m just saying that you might want to consider putting them into another category than friend, because what friends do for people? There ain’t nothin’ even remotely casual about it, sis. Not even a lil’ bit.
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