Whether money can actually buy happiness or not has been debated quite a bit. Money can certainly help you become financially stable and secure, which can contribute to happiness, but do you believe simply having money will make you a happier person long-term?
I’d like to argue that you can feel happy on any income. You may not always feel content if you have a lower income, but you can always feel happy and grateful no matter what.
How?
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
Comparing yourself to others is not realistic and does little to help improve your mood or your life. No one’s life is perfect and everyone has to start somewhere. If you are just getting started on your journey to improve your finances and you compare yourself to someone who has been working at it for five years, you’re only going to put yourself down as a result of someone else’s success.
No one’s situation is perfect nor similar so it makes no sense to compare yourself to other people. In fact, you should get inspired by people who have once been where you are at currently and use it to motivate you. Focus on yourself and your individual goals first and foremost.
Realize What You Have to Be Grateful For
Most times, we tend to focus on what we don’t have instead of what we do have. Again, if you are comparing yourself to others all the time, you might end up focusing on what they have that you don’t have often.
I challenge you to take a look around and write down everything you have to be grateful for whether it’s an object, person or experience. If you have good health, good friends and a loving family to come home to each night, that may be something that someone who has more money than you does not have.
When you take time to appreciate and cherish everything you have, it can lift your spirits and allow you to enjoy your own life more.
Set Goals that Uplift You
Setting goals can make you feel great because it gives you a focus or accomplishment to strive for. If you aren’t feeling so great about your current situation, setting goals to help improve it can contribute to your overall happiness because you’ll actually be taking action and doing something to get closer and closer to the end result.
Set goals that are going to uplift you and break those goals down into chunks so they can seem easier to reach. Feel free to stop and acknowledge your success and reward yourself when you reach a mini goal.
Start to Value Things that Don’t Heavily Involve Money
When you think about money all the time, it can actually cause stress and make you feel tense. Try to involve yourself in aspects of your life that don’t heavily involve money and start valuing these things more.
Spend more time with your family whether it’s just relaxing and watching a movie or doing a free activity together. Go on a walk or hiking, ride bikes, get into a good book, visit your favorite museum on a free day, or invite your friends over for a potluck. All of these experiences require little-to-no money at all.
Most important, they help you focus on experiences and valuing the most important things in your life.
It’s not always easy to embrace your current situation good or bad and shift your focus away from material possessions to what is truly important, but when you do, it will allow you to become happier and more fulfilled.
How do you make yourself feel happier and content regardless of what you income is?
Chonce is a freelance writer who’s obsessed with frugality and passionate about helping others increase their savings rate, eliminate debt, and work toward financial stability. She chronicles her journey to becoming debt-free on her blog, mydebtepiphany.com.
