Happiness starts with you

Ah yes, it’s that time of year again: Gyms’ parking bays across Joburg North are busier than usual, parks are bustling with walkers and many are putting their takkies to the tarmac more frequently than they usually do throughout the year.

It’s a time of paying dues to New Year’s resolutions – yes, these are still very much a thing in 2018.

A New York-based survey research centre, the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion – home to The Marist Poll, a source of analysis for public opinion research – found in a survey sample of 1 074 adults, 18 years and older in the United States, that 68 per cent of those who made a resolution for 2017 kept ‘at least part of their promise’. This is according to The Marist Poll website.

The poll found this year, ‘being a better person’ and ‘weight loss’ jointly top the most popular resolutions, followed by exercise more, eat healthier and get a better job.

These end goals are admirable, but, all too often gym contracts are unused, new takkies are chucked to the back of cupboards and resolutions are abandoned.

Surely what is important – not only in reaching resolutions but in day-to-day life – is that you do what you actually enjoy.

Nowadays, the phrase, ‘Do you‘, has much traction, and the Urban Dictionary explains it means ‘Do what you feel is best for you’.

The concept that everyone has a shortcut to happiness is explored by a character named Becca in the novel, The Secrets of Happiness by author Lucy Diamond. In part, a section reads, “Everyone had their secret shortcuts to happiness, she had come to realise. For her, it was making something using her hands, being creative. For her sister, it was exercise and the big outdoors. For Rita, it was clearly gardening that worked the magic…’

Whether or not you’re embarking on a journey to reach a resolution this year, do what makes you happy to reach a positive outcome.

It’s a point well said by author and social media influencer, Idil Ahmed: “You have to master yourself if you really want to understand how life works. It’s not about things outside yourself. It’s not about other people. It starts with you first; your mindset, your habits, your thought patterns, your belief system, and what you give your energy to.”