Happiness and satisfaction

Ultimately these are the two things most humans are trying to achieve; happiness and satisfaction. We go through ebbs and flows, highs and lows. As a kid, we think life is meant to be all sunshine and rainbows. It takes us a while to realise that is not the way it is going to pan out!

I read another blog this morning that really resonated with me.  https://medium.com/the-mission/how-im-dealing-with-my-third-mid-life-crisis-3379af8e0142. It contained a graph showing the scale of happiness in our lives.

Now, this really is interesting and explains a lot!! Check out the dip in happiness we have in the 30-50 age group, centred on my magic age of 40!!!

Darren Rowse explores, in his blog, the reasons for the drop in happiness and it all really makes sense. This is the age where we are tied up by responsibilities to our kids and are constantly worrying about what they are exposed to. We are attempting to become financially secure and worry about all that comes with that. To top it off, we have often mastered our job to the point we operate on autopilot, in a perpetual state of boredom (by the way, this one is not me, I still have a lot to learn in my job, which in turn causes a different level of stress). In the back of our minds we are thinking……… is this me for the next 30 years?

Is it any wonder then we end up having a midlife crisis?!! It seems so busy, such a rut and often we feel we are not living at all, merely existing.

So how do we break this cycle? Well, like Darren, I really think it is a case of paying more attention to those little interesting thoughts that pop up in the back of our heads. The ones that give you little boosts of energy. They can come from anywhere and are often provoked by curiosity.  He calls them ‘Sparks’. Start listening for them and when you notice one that makes you feel energised try, if you can, to act on it. Recognise them and glean some energy off them. It will make you feel more alive every time.

This is exactly what I have started doing. I started thinking I would really like to write. So here I am, writing a blog. It might be small and not many people are reading it, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am doing it, fuelling my spark, and that every time I do, it gives me a little more energy and makes me feel a little more alive.

So, I am on the hunt for more. Do you have any ‘Sparks’?

SAA