Don’t Outsource Your Happiness

Your happiness, in theory, should be something that you control internally. Your emotional well-being is a job that belongs to you.

But in practice, our happiness is often outsourced to other people or situations. We let our friends, family, co-workers, customers, politicians, media personalities, random internet strangers, etc., control our happiness. 

By letting other people do the job of controlling our happiness, we lose autonomy over our ability to live a happy and fulfilling life. 

A mean comment. A prophecy of doom. A passing of blame on to you.

These are all actions that other people are taking that you are observing. You are outsourcing your happiness to other people by internalizing these actions into your emotions. 

Don’t do that. Don’t outsource your happiness. 

Let your emotional well-being be a job that you work. Accept that what others say or do is not in your control. 

Take ownership of your happiness.