A One-Minute Guide to a Happier Life

“Every day it gets a little easier… But you gotta do it every day — that’s the hard part. But it does get easier.”
— Baboon Jogger (BoJack Horseman, TV series)

One of my favorite authors is Charles Bukowski. He was an alcoholic, a womanizer, and a gambler. He was unafraid to write about both the beauty and darkness within himself and the world around him. If you asked him for the recipe to a happy life, he’d say, “Find what you love and let it kill you.”

Bukowski spent most of his life broke, jumping from job to job, and eventually landed at a post office. But he stayed consistent with one thing: writing. He wrote for 30 years before he got his major break. It was a meager deal, but when accepting it, he wrote, “I have one of two choices—stay in the post office and go crazy… or stay out here and play at writer and starve. I have decided to starve.”

So should you be a hedonistic drunk? Maybe. I’m kidding! The thing Bukowski understood well is that you can’t achieve happiness, peace, or a better life without suffering, pain, and sacrifice—all the nasty things we might want to hide under our sofas.

To be happier and more at peace with yourself, you have to make choices about the things that will consume you. This is a trial-by-fire process, a constant “man at work” journey. You won’t get it right the first time, or even the hundredth time.

One day you’ll realize you’re exactly where you wanted to be because you changed. Maybe you’ll realize that living a happier life requires you not to always love what you do.

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@EzraTheFellowTraveller