Apr 24 2009

Laughing

I just spend the past half hour laughing my head off at a series of hilarious videos on College Humour. Work has actually been a ridiculously big let down today but I don’t care now that I’ve had a good chuckle.

I’ve heard people say that “laughing is good for the soul” before, but I’ve never really given it much thought.

On the whole, my fiancee and I are happy people. Things rarely get us down and on the whole we are fairly resilient people. I really think that a lot of this comes from the laughs that we have together and with others. As a couple, we are always joking around the house and saying funny things. We joke around with our family, and now that I think about it, our circle of friends is slowly turning into a group that can take a joke, rather than people that will always take your jokes the wrong way.

Obviously there’s a time and a place for some good laughter, but sometimes you just need to look on the bright side of life and have a chuckle. It costs nothing, it’s portable and anyone can do it! Laugh a little.

Apr 2 2009

Journey called Life

So I was just on a car forum that I regularly talk on to kill my days at work. People were talking about “cheating” in a relationship and what they consider to be ok and not ok. I told a comical story from a few years back where I ended up in a less than ideal situation with a girl from a party that I was at. I didn’t do anything that I considered as “wrong”, although probably pushing the boundaries a bit, and my girlfriend didn’t see it as an issue either. The point that I was trying to make, was that everyone has differing opinions, and what works for some won’t work for all.

I think the biggest mistake that some people make is pretending to be someone who they aren’t, just to make a relationship work. If you are your true self 100% of the time, there’s nothing to lose. Your partner knows what you are like, who you really are, and what to expect. This in my opinion is how quality relationships are formed.

Anyway, I copped a barrage of abuse. Closed minded sheep that are set in their ways. The comical thing was that the majority of them posting abuse at me had never had a decent long term relationship. By the sounds of it, most don’t communicate when in a relationship and try to conform to the rules that society set for their relationship, only to end up failing each time they try.

The point that I then brought up was whether or not they would dump someone for cheating, or try and work things out. Literally all except one of them said they’d dump the other person.

Now I hate talking about this crap, but it is interesting. I think it’s a perfect example of people getting hung up on small things in their life, rather than just living it an experiencing it for the journey. I’m not suggesting that people let their partner walk all over them, but I just believe that people are too quick to break things off nowadays. Fact of the matter is, life won’t always go your way.

I was talking to my fiancee the other day, relaxing down by the river on a Sunday afternoon. After talking about her niece and nephew, she said “imagine if we couldn’t have kids”. In the past I’d have thought that she would be devastated, but after asking her what she would do she just said “that’s life, you’ve gotta move on”. For sure, I’d be disappointed for a bit too, but it’s not as though my life would be over. I think some people place too much emphasis on too few things. To me, life is a journey. Ups and downs, good times and bad, but ultimately every time there is a good or bad occurrence, it just opens a new door.

I get annoyed or unhappy from time to time like everyone does, but I really think you can make a conscious decision to “look on the bright side of life”.

When we talked about the possibility of not having children, I realised that although at first we’d be disappointed, it would mean a life of togetherness. Most parents I speak to say that the time before they had kids was the best time in their relationship. I could handle living my whole life like that!

Being a kid, life is just fun. You roll with the punches and keep on going. You don’t hesitate, because nothing can stop you. If you fail, you just get up and try again. As we get older, we lose this carelessness. We get hung up on the small things and let life beat us down and stop us from living the life that we really want.

If you take a step back and think about life, it’s amazing. Embrace it for what it is and enjoy as much of it as you can. It’s the best journey you’ll ever experience.

Mar 26 2009

Achieving happiness

It’s amazing what it takes to make different people happy. The other day I was saying how some people like to buy things and that makes them happy. I’ve met people that just “need to be rich” to be happy. Then others just need simpler things to make them happy.

I had a really bad start to the week as far as my happiness is concerned. I’m usually a pretty cheerful person, but after a less than ideal weekend as far as my diet and excercise goes, I was down in the dumps. I don’t really get depressed as such and wouldn’t consider it an “issue”, I think I’m just quite hard on myself. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I had no energy and just wanted to sleep. Even this morning when I woke up I just wanted to keep on sleeping and chuck a sickie. I hadn’t gone for a ride for quite some time, taking the soft option to get to work, either by car or public transport, and I haven’t had a fruit smoothie since Saturday (I’m no good at eating fruit, so having a smoothie is my way of getting a decent intake of fruit every day).

After being disappointed at myself for slacking off, I forced myself to ride this morning. I got up, had a glass of water, made my smoothie, had some toast, and packed my bag ready to go. Up until walking out the door I felt drained, yet as soon as I started pedalling my energy levels picked up.

I’m convinced that excercise actually generates energy in our bodies. It certainly does for me. I find that if I just go to work by car or bus, sit at my desk all day, go home, eat and lie down on the sofa again, I just feel like life is just one big waste. I have no energy to get motivated and go and do something. Watching another episode of The Sopranos seems like a better option than going and riding my pump track.

It doesn’t take much to snap out of it though. Today I rode to work, I’m full of beans, and keen to ride home. When I get home, I’ll swap bikes, and go for a cross country loop up to my fiancee’s parents’ house for dinner.

I’ve come to the conclusion that three things make me happy in this world.

  1. My fiancee, obviously. When we have the time to spend together she just makes me smile and smile and smile. I couldn’t have met a more like-minded person that is so much fun to chill out with.
  2. Riding bikes. When I’m on a bike I’m just stoked to be living. The most random things make me happy while riding. You come across all sorts of stuff that you don’t see when you’re in a car confined to the roads. You come to appreciate all sorts of things too… Nice weather, council workers sweeping the glass off the track, quality puncture proof tyres!
  3. Outdoors. Obviously ties in with riding, but even just walking outside and looking up at the sky is enough to put a smile on my face. I love the rain. I love the sunshine. As painful as it is riding in the cold during winter, I wouldn’t have it any other way. My favourite place in the world is The Great Otway National Park. Not that I’m well travelled, but it is beautiful there. My second favourite is Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens. No electronics, no advertising, nothing really. Just the outdoors, and it is beautiful.

I’m glad that I know this. Not many people know what makes them happy. I just need to keep the ball rolling now to stay motivated.

It’s very easy to make me happy, but I find it hard to stay motivated. Without that motivation, I end up unhappy.

I’m the most complex, simple person I know. I’m cool with that though.