Day #199: Excuses Limiting Your Happiness and Life

Excuse
An excuse is what holds us back. They are the difference between this and that. The difference of growing or remaining constant. The difference between living in fear or taking a risk. The difference between living and dying. The list goes on. Excuses control us, consume us and dictate what we do. But further to this, we are the ones that make the decision to make an excuse. We think we have our valid reason, but here is a question for you. If we make excuses to avoid doing something, is this conflicting with our integrity? I mean, if someone asks if you can do something, but you come back at them and say you are kind of busy and you are not sure of your timeline of completing your current task… Now this isn’t lying but it is using a situation, to manipulate yourself out doing a task which you don’t seem all that excited by.

Just think about it –

excuse – an explanation offered as a reason for being excused; a plea offered in extenuation of a fault or for release from an obligation, promise, etc.

With this all in mind, we tend to continue to make excuse’s, which actually keeps limiting us of who and what we are.

Ever heard, or recall saying “I’ll be so happy when X happens”

At the core, we tend to believe the pursuit of “X” will solve our deepest problems. When really all we are is infected with the deadliest disease of all. 

The “I will be happy when” syndrome.

If you can’t be happy where you are, with what you have, you never will. – Dale Partridge

This is ridiculous; following a life of chasing an achievement after achievement saying that completing each one of these will make you happy and content. Yes it is GREAT that you are pursing these goals and I say continue to do so, but don’t let it consume your ability to live happy. You should not have to be something in the future, or somewhere in the future to be happy. What about now? Why can’t you be happy now?

I have a challenge for you…

BE HAPPY TODAY.

Be content with your life, with what you have. Stop trying to fill your gaps within you, with outward success. A job, a person, a promotion, a house or winning the winning the lottery will make you happy, but they will never heal or cure the disease of being unable to be happy now.

Ask yourself these questions:

  • Why am I chasing this? 
  • Why do I believe achieving ‘X’ will make me ‘Y’?
  • And the harder question, Can I be happy without them, or it, or that?
We can’t control the future; we can’t control the outcome of most events in our lives. But we can control our happiness. And when we’re happy with the real thing, there is rarely a need for “X”.