How To Be Happy Part 4: Train For Something

I think another way to be happy is to set a physical goal that's too hard for you to do right now and train for it.  This will make you happy in a few ways.  First of all, you'll be exercising regularly, which everyone knows makes you feel good.  Second of all, you'll learn about your body.  You'll get used to using it, and you'll notice what's hard and uncomfortable.  Since you're training for a goal, you're going to have to keep pushing into what's hard and uncomfortable.  But you'll be keeping track of your progress, and you'll notice that what used to be hard and uncomfortable isn't hard and uncomfortable any more.  And that will feel great.  It will make you feel confident about your own ability to get better at things.  It will make you realize that things change.  There's not a whole bunch of stuff out there that's too hard for you.  It's just too hard for you right now, and that can change.  That's worth knowing.  It makes the world feel full of possibility.   

I think happy people set goals and train for them in a lot of ways.  Maybe your thing is becoming local chess champion or finishing the Sunday Times crossword in 30 minutes.  I think if you set one of these goals and then concentrate on getting better, and read books or do drills or find someone to teach you, you'll be a happier person than if you don't.  But I think the physical aspect is a pretty essential piece.  Doing something with your brain is nice, but doing something with your body will stretch you and make you feel capable in a really different way.  Especially if you're not a particularly physical person, you'll get happy if you learn how to train your body to feel comfortable doing something it's not comfortable doing now.  A few years ago I took a karate class because I realized I hadn't learned a new physical skill in about six or seven years.  I felt gawky and clumsy and sore, and that was really good for me.  I got better, and I learned that gawkiness goes away with practice. 

Training for something is adopting the philosophy that you can make yourself better at something by working at it whether it's fun in the moment or not.  It makes you interested in and more careful with your body.  It makes you stronger and more confident. 

Comments

[Anonymous]

This post made me think of one of my favorite quotes from a movie: "From the moment they wake, they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue. I have never seen such discipline." -- Algren (Tom Cruise), "The Last Samurai."

[emma goldman]

You're so right about this. And I think it does have to be physical--there's something particular about learning to move one's body. I disagree slightly in that I'm not sure a goal is really necessary--yoga isn't particularly goal-driven, for example, but it has taught me a tremendous amount--but the whole effort of learning new physical skills, and absorbing and processing new physical sensations, really can't be beat.

[gesundheit]

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