Why Is It A Struggle To Be Happy?

It is a struggle to be happy for so many people. Life can be tough.  Being happy is our natural state yet we block it by focusing on the negative things that are happening to us.

Kids have it figured out; they can find happiness in most things they do. Yet as adults we often have to force ourselves to be happy. Life can be stressful with all our responsibilities and adult problems. But it is all in perception. What one person might see as a problem, another will see as a challenge or opportunity.

Why Is It Such a Struggle to Be Happy?

You’d think being joyful would be easy, just choose to be happy. But it’s often not that easy.

I remember as a kid when I’d see stressed-out adults and think to myself that I never want to turn out like that. I didn’t ever want to worry like adults did. It’s funny how kids can see things so clearly but as adults, we lose that childlike perspective. Kids can be happy because they choose to be, but adults find it a struggle to be happy.

Things don’t go your way and you blame others or the economy or your parents or whoever. Why can’t you always be happy no matter what is going on in your life? What is stopping you from being happy? Why is it such a struggle to be happy???

1. It Can Be a Struggle to be Happy When Life Doesn’t Always Go Your Way

It’s easy to be unhappy when life doesn’t go your way. You wonder why the Universe would do this to you and why it makes your life so difficult at times. You can set the blame on people and things if they aren’t cooperating with you.

Sometimes life not going your way is one of the greatest opportunities for change. If you aren’t learning and changing from it, then you will get more of the same until you learn how to work with life and not against it.

2. It Can Be a Struggle to be Happy When You Can’t Do What You Want Because of Financial Concerns

Maybe you aren’t happy at your job, but you can’t quit because of financial worries. Or maybe you want to go on a vacation but don’t have the money for it, so it makes you unhappy that you can’t do the things you want to do.

This can be a frustrating place to be in. You want and probably need a vacation, yet financial concerns keep taking away your hope of relaxing on a beach with a margarita in your hand.

You can do, be or have anything you want. With some focus, you can make all your dreams come true.

3. It Can Be a Struggle to be Happy If You Focus More on Problems Than Solutions

Problems aren’t always problems the way you think they are. Sometimes you have a different idea of what a problem is than what it really is. Nothing is black and white, there is always some grey area. If you are looking at it from your ego perspective it seems like a problem. But to your higher self, it might actually be a solution.

For example, if you are having a problem at work and you quit you may see this as a problem. If you didn’t experience that issue at work, you wouldn’t have quit. But your higher self knows that quitting was actually a great solution as there is another amazing job lined up and ready for you. But if you keep dwelling on the problem, you will never see the solution that may be right in front of you.

4. It Can Be a Struggle to be Happy Because It’s Easier to Complain Than Not To

It is so much easier to talk about what is going wrong than it is to focus on what is going right. It’s the way you have always done things and therefore comes more naturally than focusing on the solution and not complaining about your present situation. Other people do it and it can rub off on you.

I know when I am around a lot of people that complain I sometimes join in on the complaining also. It’s human nature to try and relate to those around us. If people are around you all the time and complaining it is hard to ignore it and not join in at least sometimes. You might think you feel better complaining and letting it all out, but often it can make you feel worse. 

Another great way to get out what you need to say instead of complaining is to write it out on paper. By doing this it will be out of your system and you won’t be holding it inside of you, ready to explode. You also won’t bring anyone else into your misery which would give the problem more momentum and ultimately prolong the life of it.

Get everything you want to say out on paper and then the momentum of your problem will stop and no one else will be there to join in on the misery with you.

5. It Can Be a Struggle to be Happy When You Have Been Trying to Accomplish Something with No Results

Sometimes you can try to accomplish a goal over and over by doing it the same way over and over again. Now, this doesn’t work which can be frustrating. You need to approach your goal in a new way each time, not the same way or you will lose your mind.

You might think “I am working so hard; I don’t understand why this isn’t working for me.” It’s not always about working harder but working smarter. Working smarter might be trying a new approach to something.  

What do you have to lose by trying it a new way? If the way you are doing it is working for you then that is great but trying the same thing with zero results will only lead to frustration and unhappiness.  

You might have to take a new approach to what you are trying to accomplish. That is what successful people do, they bend and change as needed. They don’t stay stuck trying to figure out a problem in only one way. They look for new ideas to help them and they know that just because there is a bump in the road it doesn’t mean it is a dead-end, just a speedbump.

6. It Can Be a Struggle to be Happy When You Let Your Circumstances Dictate How You Feel Instead of Just Choosing to Be Happy

This is a very easy trap to fall into. I have been here many times. It’s easy to feel and react according to how your circumstances are going. You basically get sucked into whatever is going on in your life instead of just choosing to be happy.

I know this one is difficult. But it really is about finding a way to be happy no matter what the circumstances are. The circumstances won’t change unless you change first.

If you think about it as a mirror, if you are frowning, the reflection is frowning and cannot change. But if you are smiling, the reflection or your outside circumstances has to change. It comes from the inside, not from your outside reality.

7. It Can Be a Struggle to be Happy Because You Always Want More

You have goals and once you achieve them you want more. It is OK to be driven and strive for more. But make sure to take time to really enjoy the things that you do accomplish once you get them. Really milk your accomplishments, it will reinforce that you can create things you want.

By the Universal Law of Attraction, you have created the good things in your life as well as the bad. So be proud of yourself for what you have created and don’t judge yourself for the things that you have created that you don’t want.

8. It Can Be a Struggle to be Happy When You Work More Than You Have Fun

We are in a day and age where we work soooo much. We need to start having more fun!

Take extra days off work and enjoy life more. Take moments in the day to talk about something fun or do something out of the ordinary during one of your breaks that is fun. Listen to something that you know makes you smile once or twice a day.

Try to include a little bit of fun into every day. Be present in the fun times you do have by not thinking about work or money or any other problems. By enjoying the fun times, you will bring more happiness into your life.

Why Is It a Struggle to Be Happy?

Try to act more like a kid in how your view the world and how you react to it. I’ve noticed with my nieces and nephews that they are joyful no matter what is going on in their environment. They don’t stop being happy because the adults around them are stressed out.  They don’t even flinch when another kid is crying in their presence.  They know how to be happy no matter what.  It shouldn’t be such a struggle to be happy. 

~Meghan