Why is it so hard to be happy? One reason is that we’re bad at predicting how our actions will make us feel. Doing “whatever we want” often winds up making us less happy than some other course of action that at first blush might seem relatively unappealing.
Someone once described indiscipline as doing what we like, not to get to get the definition wrong, let us straighten things up. Everybody would prefer partying than to study for say an exam or test. Everybody always wants to have just another five minutes of sleep when woken up in the morning. The human nature by default wants’ to do what it likes. But doing what you feel like is like an atomic bomb that is an uncontrolled nuclear reaction while doing what is required of you called discipline is like using nuclear energy to produce electricity that is a controlled nuclear reaction. Most of us make decisions not based on what will make us happy in the future, but according to impulses that are entirely in the present tense. Right now, in this exact present moment, sitting seems easier and more pleasant than trundling off somewhere on a hike, and so I make the choice to sit. Happiness, by contrast, is an emotion that occupies a much broader temporal landscape. We look ahead with anticipation at the good things that are going to befall us, or look back at the impressive things we’ve achieved. After a 15-minute walk, we feel good about the exercise we’ve just accomplished. We feel the blood flowing through our veins, the fresh air on our cheeks. While those of us who sit, having chosen the momentary pleasantness of relaxation, wind up feeling only the dull regret of a quarter-hour wasted.
The more successful you are the less choices you make. For example you cannot go to a “ shekpe “ shop (local alcohol shop)and find someone like Prof Dora Akinyulli or General Martin Luther Agwai having a swell time. The more successful you want to be the more you should be willing to let go of your pleasure seeking activities.
To cut a long story short success comes with a price and you should be willing to pay the price. Someone once said “the biggest gap in this life is between knowing what to do and then doing what we ought to do. The problem with most of us is not knowing what to do but doing what we ought to do. We should make up our mind to pay the price for our success and as Alicia Keys said in one of her songs, “all the hustle ain’t for nothing”, we will reap the fruits of our labor.
