In the hustle and bustle of city life, it’s no surprise that most of us can’t avoid getting dragged into the world’s superficialities and forgetting ourselves, along with the things that we hold dear to our hearts, in the process. As we go through a cycle of waking up, working, eating, and sleeping, we become living, breathing robots just waiting for the next paycheck. We’re no doubt surrounded by people similarly living to survive instead of surviving to live. Meaning has seemingly left the lives of most, yet a lot of people never cease to strive to find that long-lost meaning.
For years, I had been struggling with my personal demons. And without getting into too much detail, I forgot the things that I found truly important. Thinking that all hope was lost, I accepted the fate of having happiness slipping through my fingers.
In the end, though, I decided to reject that fate. What I’m about to share with you is how I coped with a lackadaisical life, got over my negative perception of life as we know it, and enjoyed the benefits of a change of environment.
Seek Help First
Before making a drastic decision, the first step of transforming your life is to acknowledge what you’re struggling with. As with all other problems, getting to the root of the issue is an essential measure to finding a solution.
But as the saying goes, no man or woman is an island. After recognizing your problem, it’s always best to seek help from friends, family, and professionals—and there’s no shame in that. It all boils down to surrounding yourself with a support group or people who truly care about you and vice versa.
At times, however, having a support group is not enough.
Discover the Things That Make You Happy (and Chuck Out the Ones That Don’t)
More and more people are becoming familiar with the concept of decluttering and are starting to incorporate this practice into their lives. This technique isn’t just for cleaning your house and keeping it aesthetically pleasing. It mostly helps people identify what they don’t need and minimize what they want.
The same goes for tiny home living. If you have seen a couple of tiny house episodes or more, you might notice that what makes the concept of living in a tiny home isn’t only the cute design or the smart way of keeping things compact. The homeowners themselves and how they seem to exude distinctive personalities and positivity might have also caught your interest. Because these people understand what they want and express their wants through their environment, they are surrounded only by the things that make them feel good and contented. These are the people that define their environments rather than letting their environments define them. And this is what I did and what all of us should try to do in our lives.
Change Your Environment
That isn’t to say that I currently live in a tiny home. On the contrary, I still am renting an apartment. But the difference is that instead of living in the city that I had lived in for most of my life, I moved to another city that’s closer to nature. This decision made me overcome my issues.
Now, I’m not saying that you should leave your job now, pack your things, and just go live in the countryside. What you might want to consider is changing your environment completely.
This may sound like a call to escape your problems, and it is. When life gets too unbearable even after you’ve sought help, breaking free from your current environment is a risk that’s worth taking—as long as you’re not hurting anyone, of course.
Find a location where you think you can be happy living in. After that, get a job that treats you like a human being and that doesn’t make you hate waking up every morning. Then, get a pet, try your hand at gardening, or simply explore new hobbies. Delete the social media apps that make you feel awful about yourself. Try quitting any bad habits, living a healthier lifestyle, and volunteering. Finally, redesign your home that reflects your best self and keep people who matter close.
In an environment that lets you be your best self, happiness can be more easily attained than you might expect. You’ll discover more about yourself and a number of things that you didn’t know you could be passionate about. You might even start to care for the environment, promote a good cause, and support eco-conscious businesses and organizations. Changing your life starts with changing your environment, and—as cliché as it might sound—you can be the change you wish to see in the world.