6 Rules for a Happy Life
Follow these principles for calmer moods and fewer worries
There are no regrets in life. Just lessons learned.
— Jennifer Aniston
Beyond living a life you want and can be proud of requires having values ingrained into your everyday life.
And while everyone believes they have the answers to your struggles, your pains, your aches, you have to look deeper within you to find the answers.
In this article, I’ll be giving you a handful of life lessons to get you through tough times. Instead of telling you life lessons without any context, I’m going to share personal stories that hopefully inspire you to feel calmer and have fewer worries.
1. Write Every Day
Writing every day allows your thoughts to turn into actions. When everything is fuzzy and unclear, writing allows everything to make sense. Being deployed overseas for a year, away from home, filled my head with a boatload of negative thoughts. I worried about what I would do for work once I get home and whether my friends would still keep in touch with me.
Thankfully, writing every day gave me the therapeutic headspace to write out my emotions. By doing so, I helped other people who may have felt the same way about finding a job, maintaining friendships, or trying to be more charismatic.
Writing every day gives you purpose, and you get so much more out of life.
2. Talk to New People
Talking to new people opens up your mind to new possibilities. Sticking with the same people 24/7/365 will lead you to stagnation. For the longest time, I kept to my small group of friends, and I realized later in life that nothing was changing for me. I wanted to achieve more in life, be more creative, and make more money. But I was sticking with people who didn’t have the motivation to level up and be greater.
We are the average of the five people we spend the most time with, and by giving your chance to meet new people, you enhance the odds of finding your “dream team.” Talking to new people is a great way to network and open new doors for yourself.
3. Ask More Questions
Asking questions will get you through life with much fewer issues. Places I famously remember asking questions include my military career, on the football team, and when going on a first date. If you ask questions, you come across attentive to detail, and you are bound to make fewer mistakes.
Even the smartest people don’t know everything. Questions allow your mind to wander and work out thoughts on its own.
“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes. He who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.”
4. Exercise Every Day
Exercising every day has kept me in moderate shape. I feel good about the skin I walk around in, and being “fit” boosts my confidence. These days, the world is so harsh that having confidence is hard to come by. There are lots of trolls online, and people who wish they had what you had.
But by exercising every day, you do your mental health a favor since you’re relieving stress and taking care of your health. I don’t go balls to the wall every day, but I do make sure to burn at least 500 calories daily. An Apple Watch or a Fitbit can help you keep track of your fitness levels, and is highly recommended.
5. Play Video Games
I have been on a streak of learning how to play new video games, and it allows me to relieve stress and improve my problem-solving skills. Video games such as “Among Us,” “Dead by Daylight,” and “Beat Saber” are some games that require a learning curve and have taught me a lot.
Video games allow you to interact with other players and get you interested in the games you are playing. Often, I’ll catch myself reading articles and absorbing videos on the internet — both of which I wouldn’t voluntarily do for a class I didn’t care about.
6. Going to College Doesn’t Guarantee Anything
My graduating class is for the year 2020. I have seen friends who graduated struggle just as much, if not more than friends who didn’t go to school. It’s becoming such an automatic thing people are doing nowadays, and many feel pressured to get their degrees. The sad thing is, I know some people who are getting degrees that make their parents or other people in their lives happy.
Everyone besides themselves.
To see people fall into 80k in debt over four years after getting a degree that doesn’t truly make them happy is heartbreaking. All that time is lost, and now they’re drowning in debt.
College can be a disaster if you don’t know what you want to do.
Key Points that You Need to Know
If you want to live a happier and healthier lifestyle, consider these 6 key principles:
Write every day.
Talk to new people.
Ask more questions.
Exercise every day.
Play video games.
Know that going to college doesn’t guarantee anything.
Thanks for reading,
— Jordan
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