Happiness: a state of mind everyone hopes to achieve in his or her lifetime. It's such a simple concept, yet many have trouble realizing how to obtain it. Sometimes we unintentionally create our own obstacles, which prevent us from achieving the goal of happiness. It is ever-so-important to realize the ways we are limiting ourselves in order to fully reach happiness.
Stress: an emotion every Gen-Yer experiences at least once a day, if not more. Stress is a difficult state to navigate, seeing as a healthy amount can be good for you.
It could motivate you to get out of your comfort zone, or it could prevent you from completing a task to your full potential. How do you figure the ideal balance? Well, to start, we've outlined eight things you shouldn’t be stressing about in your 20s:
1. The Unchangeable
Things that have already happened are occurrences of the past, things that cannot be reversed or altered. There’s no reason to linger on the unchangeable. The only thing you can do is learn from your past experiences and take the lessons as they come. Carry that information with you into future endeavors and see how your past can positively affect your present or future.
2. Other People’s Opinions
People are always going to gossip, no matter what, so you may as well give them something to talk about, right? Who cares what people have to say about you if you are pleased with the decisions you are making?
3. Keeping Up With The Joneses
Most people have heard this expression before. If not, it's the comparison of your social status to your neighbor's. For example, maybe you can’t afford to go out to dinner with your friends as often as you would like, or perhaps your roommate comes home with a new clothing item multiple times per week and you envy his or her ability to spend frivolously. Don’t fixate on the lives of others; be only concerned with your own. Not everyone is on the same page in life, especially in our 20s.
4. Gossip
The only people who gossip are those whose personal lives are not fulfilling. If you are happy and content with your life, why do you even care what is going on in someone else’s? There is no reason to engage in such petty behavior. Stick to your own path, and don’t concern yourself with someone else’s journey.
5. Living Up To Family Expectations
Obviously your parents are extremely important to you; they are the people who stood behind you and supported you, both emotionally and financially, throughout the years. It makes complete and perfect sense to want to please them, but in actuality, they are a completely different generation, one with different ideas of success. It’s okay if they don’t understand your motives and goals right now; eventually they will and they will learn to support you just as they have up to this point.
6. Comparing Yourself To Your Friends
The only person you should compare yourself to is your previous self. No two people are alike and why would you want to be anyone but yourself, anyway? Everyone has the exact same amount of hours in a day; the difference is how you choose to spend them. If you don't like how things are for you right now, you have all the power to change it. Actively comparing yourself to other people is the last thing that is ever going to change your situation.
7. What Your Ex Thinks About You
Honestly, who cares? Your ex is your ex -- aka, he or she is out of your life. You cannot consume yourself with thoughts of another person who bears no relevance in your life any longer. Do you; don't concern yourself with things of this nature. They are in your past. By occupying yourself with these detrimental thoughts, you are only preventing yourself progressing.
8. Where You're Going To Be In 10 Years
Of course it's important to plan for your future, but honestly, how can you even predict where you're going to be years from now? Who knows what will happen over the course of your life between now and so many years from now? Situations can arise that completely throw you off the course you planned for yourself. Changes are cause for re-routing your path. The most important things to focus on are your present circumstances and making the best out of what you currently have.
Photo credit: Rachel Baran, click here to check out her awesome work.
