The Battle for Happiness That You Can Win
Every day presents a struggle. A war rages on inside that divides your inner forces between happiness and sadness. You can feel it affecting regions of your body, like your bones, stomach, and skin, and wonder if others can see your distress. But you fight in this war alone, pitted against yourself. This Battle for Happiness is a battle against depression, and there is no simple way of winning.
Morning
When the sun rises, the forces of depression have two means of attack – through silence and through psychological warfare. You slowly open your eyes, taking in the scene of your room. While your mind may be blank for a few seconds, the question begins to rumble through the silence like a resonating growl of thunder.
“Why am I still here?” you may think. “How bad is it going to be today?”
With that, depression looms in the darkness, preparing for an ambush. It may let the sadness creep into silence some rays of light, but most of the time, your thoughts are your own worst enemy. You struggle to throw off the comforter and touch your feet to the flow. The skin you surround yourself in feels sluggish and rigid. Your stomach tightens into knots at the thought of waging the struggle again when everything feels like it is in vain.
But then you remember.
You remember that there are things that have to be done, so despite the pain riddling your body and mind, you rise. Perhaps you glance to the other side of the bed to see your partner or animal companion sound asleep and smiling.
Perhaps you greet the plants coming to bloom by the window. And as you slide on slippers and shuffle out into the kitchen, you look at everything you have – family, friends, and a home – and allow Happiness to take to the field.
Read also – Is It Ever Okay to Live a Life Void of Any Passion?
Afternoon
With morning over, you find yourself either at school or work. The Battle for Happiness wages on tirelessly, and you feel drained from your morning commute. A dead-end job, tedious work, and an existence that seems to be fading like a chair slowly being pulled out from under you. You maintain a mask of contentedness that fools the crowd. No one can see your pain or fears.
Every smile that is false and every time you pitch your voice into excitement takes a blow at Happiness. You hate lying to everyone, you think. What a waste this is.
You know that you could wallow in that dissatisfaction and hurt. But, were you to surrender that easily, the Battle for Happiness would be lost. So, you decide to use your depression as a creative energy, guiding you towards a means of tolerance, understanding, and acceptance.
During your free time, you actively seek ways to trounce depression once and for all – things like yoga, meditation, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and movement or art therapy.
Night
A blue glow of the TV screen transports you to the world where everyone’s problems find resolution in one or two episodes. You wish it was that easy, but no war is so effortlessly fought. You know you could wave the white flag and surrender your will to live, yet you refuse to lay down and let depression step on you.
You think of these things and write them down, or let them spin through your mind. Wherever you find light or darkness, happiness or depression, depends on your strategy for the next wave of assault. You never know, and so you command yourself to stay resolved.
Read also – 5 Reasons to Stop Judging Your Emotions
In the Battle for Happiness, having depression has your contender means waking, living, and sleeping with a sense of dread. As much as you would like for the war to end, you soon find yourself pitted in skirmishes and wars on a daily basis.
Do you retreat into the pain or do you fight back? The choice is always yours, but for the sake of happiness and joy and living your beautiful life, do not give up. Keep fighting. You will win eventually.
