What Makes You Feel Happy and Fulfilled?

I get excited when thinking about this question because it's always enjoyable for me to think about what makes me happy. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of this question is my future. I am excited about the endless possibilities of my future and how I have so much life left to live. I definitely find myself at times worrying about the future. What career do I want to pursue? Does that align with the major I am working towards? Will I be financially secure? What if I become terminally ill? These are all really scary to think about and can leave me feeling very anxious. However, I try my best to counter the scary with the exciting/happy. I try to picture my future in a positive light and dream about all the things that I want to happen in my life (having a family of my own, working a job that I love, and getting to spend many more years with the people I love). It is really, really hard sometimes to see how cool the future can be but I try my best to think of getting older as just experiencing more good. 

I feel very fulfilled when I am gentle with myself. I find that I am never fulfilled with myself and the things that I have accomplished if I am constantly telling myself that I could've done better, worked harder, or accomplished more. Telling yourself these negative things does no good. However, when I recognize that I am doing well at so many things (even if those things are just sending a text to someone I've been meaning to text or completing a short assignment) I feel better and much more fulfilled. We can all be so hard on ourselves and not give ourselves love and appreciation for the awesome things that we are doing. I know how easy it is to compare yourself to others who you may think are "doing more than you". However, you have no idea what others might be going through. The people who you believe are "doing more than you" might actually be comparing themselves to you and think badly about themselves because "you are doing better at ___ than them". It is so hard to do but we need to show ourselves and the people around us some more love. We have no idea what others are going through and the more love and kindness in the world the better.