The Secret to Happiness Wasn’t What I Thought

I used to believe that once I lived in the countryside, once I was in this farmhouse, the rest would be over. It was my happily ever after and all of my dreams had come true. But since moving into the farmhouse three years ago, I have realized several things about happiness and how fleeting it is. Don't get me wrong, it is a dream come true to live in the country and I really have loved every single minute of it, but I'm realizing that true contentment and true happiness comes from a much deeper place and it's taking me years to figure this out. Starting at the beginning, my husband and I had farmed this land for four years before we ever got to move into the farmhouse. There was someone else renting the house and we were leasing the land and farming it and we loved it out here. It was everything we dreamed of, but we were living in a townhouse at the time. It was really cramped, there was neighbors side by side and our biggest dream was to live on the land that we were farming and it really didn't seem like it was going to happen for us on this property. And we were looking and searching and we had viewed several possible situations where we could have moved in on the land and farmed it. These were hard times for us and our family and we also went through the pandemic, not yet living here, but coming here as a sort of retreat away from the world. And during that period, I came here and started a big garden and it was just an oasis away from real life. Eventually, we were shocked and surprised when the land owner told us that the house was coming available. And we truly never expected this, we actually gave up on the idea that we would ever live here, but our dreams finally came true. And we got to move into the farmhouse and let me tell you, it was a glorious, glorious day when we spent our first night here. And the first year that we lived here was just kind of a glow period, a time when we didn't have any future goals because we were living in our dream and we just couldn't believe it. And this was our happily ever after. There's definitely more to the story, but I'll save that for another time. Because to get really into the topic of this video is that, you know, eventually unhappiness can start creeping into your life. You start to see your cup as half empty instead of half full. And, you know, there are still dishes to do laundry still piles up. And a bigger house means more spaces to keep clean. A bigger property means more work. And the day to day grind can start to bring with it a sense of unhappiness and that the grass could still be greener on the other side. During my days and weeks of spring cleaning, I became very unsettled in the amount of clutter that needed to be removed, the garbage that needed to go to the dump. I started harassing my husband about all the things that we need to change in order to make this place look good. And I started to realize that the level of stress that I was putting myself under was making it so that I wasn't seeing the beauty in the situation that I'm in and where I get to live. And that I needed to be more still and silent and spend more time in gratitude of my life. What I'm figuring out is that our soul has a purpose in this life. And as part of that, we are always meant to reach for more. We're always going to want more than what we have now. And I think that that is just part of who we are as human beings. But the secret is that physical possessions, money, and all of that is not where you find true happiness. True happiness is in the relationships that you build. It's in your personal growth. It's in gratitude. It's in noticing those beautiful moments in your everyday life. And you really need to go inwards to find that true happiness. One of the great treasures of living on this property is having the freedom to just walk outside and enjoy nature. But if I'm being 100% honest with you, when I lived in other situations, I went on hiking trails and parks and different places where I could get the same exact feeling as I get here. And I really don't think that you have to live on a big property in order to feel that connection to nature. I think it's all within us. And we just need to go out and enjoy it, no matter where we live. I've been listening to an audiobook recently that's really given me a perspective on what I'm talking about. And it's called The Power of Now. I will link the book down below if you're interested in checking it out. But this book has been really deep. And it really makes you think. I've been listening to it while I work on our farm. And just the idea of the past and the future is what brings fear and anxiety. And if you can live in the present moment, that is where the true joy and happiness lies. That's kind of the essence of the book so far. I'm not finished it yet. But I've really been trying to have those moments throughout the day where I'm fully present, where I'm not thinking about the future and things that I want. And I'm not thinking about the past. I'm just enjoying right now. If you really want to get into this, then consider getting out a journal and writing down all of the things that make you feel truly happy. And I don't mean just a fleeting happiness. I mean, everlasting happiness. I would say my relationships with my husband and my children and my family is at the top of the list. And the relationship with our pets is up there as well, because they bring us true joy and happiness every single day, just with their cuddles and their smile. I also think the satisfaction of learning new skills and becoming good at something can bring true happiness, because that doesn't go away. Once you've learned something, you've learned it for good, and it stays with you. And so I really think it's a good idea to write these things down and really consider it, because this will give you a new perspective on where to go from here, what really is going to make you happy. If you've been on my channel, you know that I love thrifting. But what I'm coming to realize in my journey towards minimalism, which I'm not there yet, I'm still in progress. What I'm realizing is, as I simplify my life, it makes me more happy. And the more things that I have, the more cluttered my life becomes. And the more work that gives me and the more unhappy I become, because I constantly have to manage my belongings. And so simplifying my life in getting rid of things, minimizing my belongings, but also minimizing the things that I have to do, and just allowing myself more freedom and more time, that also gives me true happiness. Life really is a journey, and you can spend your whole life chasing the wrong things and realize all too late that what really mattered was right in front of you the whole time. I highly recommend that if you have a moment in your day where you're really feeling stressed, just try to take a pause and really think about your life and where you're at, and try to find gratitude and the things that you're happy about, the progress you've made. And don't think about where you're going next, because often that can bring discontentment in your current life. But really think about what it took for you to get where you're at, and really try to enjoy it. My husband and I have worked extremely hard to get where we're at on our eighth year of farming, and we've had to learn so many new skills and so many lessons along the way, and we don't feel done. We're not there yet, and the journey keeps going onwards. But sometimes I need to remind myself of what it's taken for me to get here. It's so easy to lose sight of the work you've put in. I highly encourage you to make a practice of living in the now, which means not thinking about the future and what it holds, because that can bring a lot of fear and anxiety of thinking about what might happen if you lose your job, or every possible scenario of what could go wrong in your life, or your next business move. There's just so many things that can really distract you from living your life right now, and it can bring with it a lot of fear, stress, anxiety, and discontentment. And of course, it's always going to be important to plan your future and move in a direction or a goal, but I really think that true happiness really does lie in enjoying the moment right now. I also think it's really interesting to think about all the twists and turns along the way of what got you to where you're at right now in your life, and all the possibilities of the directions your life could have taken, but that every single decision that you made led you to this exact moment right now. Just a little something for you to think about. I want to thank you so much for joining me in today's video. Go ahead and leave me a comment down below, hit that subscribe button, or give me a like. All of these things help my channel, and I'll see you again in next week's video.