And so, this weekend, I decided to…stop. I think it’s as simple as that. I swore to myself that from this moment on, I’m just…going to choose to be happy.
And guess what, once I made that choice, I started choosing other things that just made me happy. Like deciding to skip dance classes and hang out with my favorite (ok only) Godchild, and cutest ChickenMcNugget in the entire world, Ananya (and of course her awesome parents). And then, since I was choosing to be happy, I also decided to redecorate my room. And yes, I think it’s quite amazing.
Current stuff I am loving which help me stick to my choice to be happy:
- The Spirit Junkie: It’s just as hippie as the title suggests, so if you are allergic to that kind of stuff you may want to avoid it, but I actually like the premise of what she has to say and it’s been helping me quite a bit.
- The Book of Secrets: Yes, this is the same guy that started a sex cult in Pune, and I can see where that is coming from, but this book isn’t really about sex. I think it’s about centering, and let me just say I use a lot of these techniques during the day. I’m still only 20% done with it, but I already think it’s awesome. Fun Fact: I had a hard time going to sleep, and when you replay your day backwards in your head, you actually not only feel more centered, it knocks you right out. The best.
- Ik Onkar, Song from Rang De Basanti: I have this on repeat, it’s so soothing and I love it. It makes me feel like..everything is going to be ok.
Those are the ones that are currently trending in my life right now, but I’m sure others will come my way. But I’m really stoked thinking about this topic. The Happy Startup. What would it look like if you followed your passion AND you were happy. Because it turns out, just because you follow what you want to do, you don’t automatically end up happy. In fact, most people running a startup I know aren’t happy. Including myself. Which is weird because if you ask any of us we’d say yeah I wouldn’t trade the job, but GOD I WANT TO PUNCH SOMETHING. We live in an oxymoron.
So anyway, here’s to positive change.
So I Quit My Job and Moved to India 
The issue I personally struggle with is the balance between things that will make me happy in the here and now, and things that I think I should do which will bring happiness at some point in the future (over and above what would be brought had normal events transpired). The problem with this line of thinking is we know what makes us happy in the here and now. But we have 1) incomplete information about what will make us happy in the future, and 2) incomplete information about what prerequisites those happy outcomes will require – in short, bounded rationality. And this isn’t even taking into account irrationality caused by mood, environment, psychology, etc. In fact, just thinking about all of this makes me somewhat unhappy…
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