Feeling My Way Towards Happiness
“It isn’t necessary to know exactly how your ideal life will look; you only have to know what feels better and what feels worse…Begin making choices based on what makes you feel freer and happier, rather than on how you think an ideal life should look. It’s the process of feeling our way toward happiness, not the realization of the Platonic ideal, that creates our best lives.” ~Martha Beck
I first saw this quote on another blog a few weeks ago and it immediately resonated with me. For the last few years, I was unhappy in my career, and this discontent spilled over into other aspects of my life. I knew I needed to make a change, but I wasn’t sure where to start. So rather than simply trying something new, I allowed my desire to come up with the “perfect” plan to “fix” my career (and my life) paralyze me.
It wasn’t until I took the plunge and moved to San Francisco, and forced myself to fully leave my comfort zone, that I realized I don’t have to have everything figured out. I just have to allow myself to take risks, try new things, and pay attention to how those things make me feel. Not how I think I should feel, but how I truly feel.
And even if those things make me feel anxious and uncomfortable, my world will not end. In reality, I’m that much closer to finding out what does and does not work for me.
