One of the things life has taught me so far is that things can never keep flowing the way I desire them to. There will be moments of happiness and sadness, and being able to take charge of my emotions whenever I feel any of the experience is vital. Regardless of how good life can be for anyone, there are always challenges to face at some point in our lives.
From my experience with life issues, my sad moments aren't the best time to be away from people, including my good friends and loved ones. Depending on what bothers me, shutting down my loved ones might worsen the situation.
There was a time I experienced constant sadness and depression, and if I can remember vividly, the whole torture began in my mind. I had moments where I was analyzing how unfair life was treating me. I looked around me, and all I saw was negativity. I thought about several ugly situations clustering around me and my family and found no reason to be happy. Everyone around me looks like they are my problem, and I felt like disappearing to a lonely place away from the burden of life. I remember asking my mom if it's alright for me to travel home alone and spend two weeks to have my sanity. Then she became interested in my case and didn't rest until I opened up to her. It took me three days before I let out my burden on her. In those moments, I was feeling constant sadness, I was at home but always acted lonely. If not for my sister in my home, my kids would have suffered the negative effects badly because I found no reason to even care for anyone or have any interaction with them. I just wanted to be satisfied with my sorrow and mourn the situation. I locked up my heart and said that no one should have access to talk trash to me. It was Mom who made me realize that locking out people isn't a healthy solution to my problems. She gave me instances using her personal life experience, and that sank into my life.
After that, I realized that one of the best way to let go of sad moments is by actually taking some action and not shutting people out of your life. As an extrovert, it was just so easy for me to begin to speak out whenever I was in a low moment. This is one of the times we realize how important it is to have family and good friends around us. You can never go wrong with letting out your worries with the people you trust. It could be more terrible to lock up.
The battle for happiness is real, and coming out of it is also totally in our hands. To keep things in check so that things don't get out of hand, I also try engaging in diverse activities that could spark positive feelings. Regardless of the situation, I try to think through my wins and other positive things about me and show gratitude, encouraging myself that this too shall pass and become a story to tell. Having good company of friends around makes me feel better and gives me a good distraction from my anxiety. I could come up with giving myself a nice treat, and all this is simply to shift my mind from negative things around me and create happiness.
Getting back to happiness after moments of constant sadness and depression may not be a quick process for everyone, but it may require that we have patience with ourselves until things fall into place again.
This post is in response to the #hivelearners contest on the topic titled*, The Battle for Happiness
All images are mine