Last week, I talked about what is temporary and what is permanent. I mostly discussed how much of the struggles we face don’t last forever. How changing your mindset a little and giving it a small tweak can truly change your perspective on life and have it end up being beneficial to you in the long run.

Today, I want to focus on temporary happiness and how we can avoid looking for it in the wrong areas of our lives. We can all agree that perfection doesn’t exist. We can all agree that life isn’t a fairy-tale where everything goes as planned and it’s nothing but roses and happy days. The sooner we accept that, the better the journey will be to finding true happiness.

Short term gain will result in long term pain

Umair Aziz Attari

Temporary happiness can come from a relationship you decided to get into because the idea of being alone scares the hell out of you. It can come from smoking a blunt because getting high for a couple hours beats facing the stress of growing up. It can come from buying all the cool new gadgets and designer clothes because materialistic things are huge in this day and era. You can obviously pick and choose what yours is and the reason behind it.

What happens when that relationship leads to a dead end and you’re forced to be alone? What if you realize you’ve become dependent on the drug or the addiction that you swore was anything but? What if an unforeseen circumstance occurs and it leaves you with nothing but the clothes on your back? Ask yourself, when that temporary happiness vanishes in the blink of an eye, what do you have left?

Pure happiness stems from the peace during those dark moments.

The moment you reach pure happiness, the kind that lasts a lifetime which is all we really need, you’ll discover that everything you thought satisfied every basic need was just a mirage. It wasn’t real. Pure happiness stems from the peace during those dark moments. I’m talking about the moments you feel lonely, the moments you feel stressed, the moments you feel like a failure.

Marriage is not perfect, having your dream job is not perfect, being rich is not perfect. Life is not perfect… which is why learning what it truly means to be happy is vital to be able to live life to the fullest. Think about what your temporary happiness is at the moment. Then decide whether it’s enough for you or if you want to search for something more…. something long-lasting.