Happiness is letting go

Happiness is letting go of what you think your life is supposed to look like and celebrating it for everything that it is." - Mandy Hale.

So many people are unhappy because they don't believe their life is turning out the way they'd planned it. They had hopes and dreams and visions of grandeur that are slowly fading into the reality of day to day life.

Midlife crises occur when people stop and take stock of their life and realize that it is never going to be what they had imagined - they will never achieve all the goals they had envisaged. They will never be as rich, or famous or whatever as they'd assumed they'd be by this point in time.

Maybe there is a different type of midlife crisis - one where you stop and think to yourself how good life is despite not being the life you had planned for. Maybe things haven't turned out quite the way you expected - but they are still pretty darn good and when you look at things with gratitude you come to see that there is a lot of life worth celebrating and being happy about!

18 comments

  1. I completely agree Leanne. If you look at all the things you don't have and didn't achieve you'll miss looking at everything you do have. It's much better to appreciate what you've got. So many people are concerned by material things, wealth that they forget that happiness comes from friends, family and experiences out of times spent with them. I love this post and would love if it you come along to my linkie called Life Loving Linkie and linked it up for others to read. Perhaps you have a few more to share too?

    Sally @ Life Loving

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    1. Hi Sally - you completely get what I'm saying :) It's all about appreciating what we have rather than dwelling on disappointments! I would love to join your linkie and will pop over to check it out - thanks so much for the invitation :)

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    2. Yes completely. We are on the same page. Thanks for joining up Leanne. It's such a great post, I'm sure others felt inspired too.

      Hopefully, see you again next week.

      Sally @ LifeLoving

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  2. I agree 100%. Just recently I suffered an epileptic seizure that has left me housebound since I can't drive anymore. I can remember a time when this would have had me feeling sorry for myself. Maybe it's my age but right now I feel that maybe - just maybe - this is exactly where I'm supposed to be. Thanks for posting this :-)

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    1. it is how you look at it isn't it Mona - an opportunity to be frustrated or to rest and chill out (one leaves you annoyed and the other leaves you at peace) I know which I'd choose!

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  3. Short answer Thurs: Absolutely, girl!
    Carol Cassara

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    1. I like short answer to short thought - nice touch Carol :)

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  4. Life has been so much better AND so much more challenging than I imagined! I think what makes looking forward to the rest of our lives exciting is knowing that we're only in control of our actions and reactions to things and therefore we can't script anything but we have huge amounts of control over our happiness if we choose to keep putting ourselves out there and being grateful whatever the result. Thanks for your post!

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    1. I totally agree Patty - I think I've come to realize that my perspective is what makes all the difference - happiness is not hard to find if you stop comparing and just start appreciating.

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  5. This is SO true. And such an important bit of advice, Leanne! I've witnessed people close to me nearly ruining their lives because of their mid-life crisis. It's a very real problem!

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    1. I think we've been led to believe that we can all be 'amazing' .......but maybe it's okay to just be content with a 'normal' life.

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    1. me too Karen and it's pretty darn fine :)

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  7. We have to embrace the surprises that life throws our way and make them work to our advantage. I took this economic crisis and turned it into a blog. Another one of the reasons that I blog which I actually forgot to mention on the post. I guess I'm so happy now it doesn't affect me.

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    1. I agree Mary - life will always throw curve balls at us - it's up to us how we deal with them and how we then view life.

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  8. I love this Leanne! I have found in my own experience that life has turned out so much better than what I had planned. Sure we all go through bad times, but ultimately the good outweighs the bad if we're lucky.

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    1. I think good will outweigh bad if we want to look at life that way Rena - and that's a much better outcome than focusing on the bad stuff!

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  9. Leanne, this speaks to me, so hard! Over the last 3 years I have seen the life I was building turn to dust. Before my disease and stroke I could always work my way out of issues, financial and otherwise. We always had enough. Now I've had to slow down and totally change things in order to survive. I am learning that although my life is different it's not bad. I see things much more clearly and now I am on a different road. Although I'm not wealthy in money I am in love and blessings. I would never have seen that before! Thanks for this, it helps remind me to be grateful!

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Thanks so much for your comment - it's where the connection begins.