I’ll Be Happy When

February 28th, 2022 by Kelly Kienzle

As I see signs of us moving towards more normalcy in our lives and a few warm days reminding me that spring is coming, I become hopeful.  I have thoughts of “I’ll be happy when…I can be outside more… I can eat at a restaurant… I can be on or in the water… I can go on evening walks”.

Being Here Now

And while these thoughts are pleasant to consider, they are also risky.  When I adopt a mindset of “I’ll Be Happy When…” then I am looking out beyond what I have now.  I am not seeing the place where I am now.  I have forgotten to notice the trees and fields as they are now.  I miss the big wins and the small losses in my life and in the lives of those around me.

I have a running list of I’ll Be Happy When (IBHW): when I successfully finish this workshop series, when I can be on my paddleboard again, when I clean out the garage and when the weekend arrives.

Yet these events come and go and I feel about the same afterwards.  I had put false hope on them magically delivering the satisfaction, freedom and happiness I was waiting for.

Finding the 10%

However, waiting is exactly where I went wrong.  We wait for that time of IBHW.  What happiness are you waiting for? We all know we waited for it during the worst parts of COVID.  And now that we are getting on the other side of it, how much happier are we?

So here is what I am challenging myself to do: Find how to be happy now.  What is happening in your life right now that makes you happy?  What have you been given or what have you made that brings you satisfaction, freedom or happiness?

Look at what you have and find at least the 10% that is good.  What is the 10% in your life now for which you are grateful?  Search and pull that 10% out into the light of day and allow it to give you happiness now, just for a minute.  Then your motto can become: I’ll Be Happy Now, if only for a moment.