A “Free” Course on Happiness

Never Give Up… Unless a Pop-up Window Appears

Carrot

A month ago, I decided to take a six-week intensive “FREE” course, offered by one of the most respectful Universities in the world. It was all about offering practices and tools to better manage what we call “Contentment”.

Before I enrolled, I took a long minute to reflect. Why did I want to take this class? Wasn’t I already capable of creating, imagining and mastering my very own state of happiness? What motivated me to begin, and what I was hoping to get out of this course?

Four questions, one answer. I wanted to gain more wisdom in regards to this aspect, by shedding an academic light and perspective on the topic. By discovering more ways to improve my idea on the subject, I thought I could stimulate my happiness, further.

To my thinking, happiness is the key to everything. It unlocks healthy perspectives on how we perceive ourselves, and the world around us.

So, after identifying the “carrot”, I decided to enroll, and squeeze the course, in my already busy daily schedule. And I was really excited about that.

The Boring Stage

Before the course introduction I had to familiarize myself with the learning platform, which, in my opinion and experience, was scheduled for dummies. No offence people, but that stage was extremely boring and, as I was not allowed to skip this process, I consumed much of my time and energy into this.

At some point, I finally entered the Course Introduction. It started the right way. Six hours a week was my commitment in the learning process. I took video lessons, I wrote short essays on given subjects and I got graded for that, as well as for multiple choices and answers on random questions. I interacted with other global learners in the forum place, and I was also asked to grade the responses and essays given by other fellow students.

The whole thing was kind of fun, and I was enjoying the process but again, what else was new? Apart from the student interaction part, and back-to-school experience, I wasn’t learning anything that I didn’t know already.

Pop-Up Window

And there goes Module I, which I passed with flying colors. I was eager to reach the next part where I was promised, and prepared with anticipation, to learn HOW to practice the ideas into several parts of my very own life from, probably, a different perspective than mine. After all, that was the reason why I enrolled to this “free” lesson.

And right there… oops! My excitement was interrupted by a pop-up window, that appeared in the foreground of my laptop screen. It was initiated by the learning platform itself and it contained a short message stating that, in order to unlock this precious information, buying the certificate was a prerequisite. It also contained a link for easy and safe money transactions.

The amount was insignificant but I felt betrayed as, to begin with, I enrolled to a “free” course.

Frustration hit my door… for a short time only.

I don’t need a certificate. I don’t need to impress anyone; I am not in the corporate business world anymore, where I had to present a bunch of papers to prove my value, to showcase my extra qualifications and skills in theory, before big corporations could hire me to do the job, and pay big time for putting my time and knowledge at their service.

I enrolled to a “free” course, and after all that time invested, I was back to zero “extra knowledge acquisition” point.

I stayed away from it for a couple of days and then, frustration no frustration, I decided to carry on.

So, by repeatedly hitting the right arrow on the screen, I painfully skipped the blank pages, one after the other, the ones that promised to teach me how to practice theory learned, and I moved on to the next free part of the course.

I gave it a try. I really did. But, on the way, I realized that I lost my enthusiasm as I kept learning same old, same old, without gaining the added-value I was hoping for.

Meanwhile, and during that time, I could clearly hear my inner voice that kept assuring me that, even though attempt number one failed to convince me to buy the certificate, there would be more obstacles of this kind in my learning process ahead, until I would be “forced” to buy the paper as a proof of wisdom earned.

That worked as a red flag for an emotional fatigue of mine in the horizon.

I didn’t need that.

Life Rules

And then, I just quit. Simple as that. But it didn’t feel right, at first.

I admit that my ego was traumatized a bit as it felt like I’m a quitter. I didn’t finish what I’ve started, and that was totally not me. “Never give up” is a life motto. What changed? Nothing changed, it’s only that this motto applies only to things that interest me. So, I used this “excuse” to ease my mind and find peace, on this matter, within.

Did I just miss the opportunity to gain access to a different, an academic perspective that could probably make me a little bit happier in just six weeks?

After some inner discussions with self, I realized once more that, in my life, if something doesn’t add value in my existence, and my daily practices, then I don’t lose time pondering around it. I translate this “something” into habits, attitude, work, perspectives, people, and life in general.

It’s like reading a book, actually.

If the plot fails to captivate me, to leave me in awe after reading a powerful line trying to understand what just hit me, then I just stop reading it, I put it aside and move on to the next one. This rule applies to every aspect in my life, and I believe that’s the main source of my happiness.

Same with the course. It failed to grab my interest, so it didn’t feel like offering more of my time into this.

All I was hoping to learn, was to get access to NEW implementation tools and strategies I could use daily, for the rest of my life.

Sorry folks, time is money and I invest it wisely. And you didn’t deliver what you initially promised. Theory is nice, practice is even better.

Note to Self

I love to learn and educate myself with all kind of interesting things. I quit the course and that means I have some extra time now to read more stories on Medium, and explore further the works of my favorite writers. That works just fine for me.

Besides, I’m perfectly happy the way I am and I’ll keep implementing, creating and painting, with all short of colors, my very own happy world.

I’m way passed the strategy stage.