Everyone wants to be happy, and everyone feels excited from time to time – but what’s the difference between the two feelings? Successful life coach Christopher Roberts from Dream Big Global believes that he knows the difference, and this knowledge is what allows him to give his clients tips for meaningful change in their personal and professional lives.
Christopher says that true happiness is contentment with who you are as a person, while excitement is a momentary thrill that helps to sustain interests for certain periods.
Christopher explains, “The balance between happiness and excitement can be hard to quantify, and it’s always changing for everyone but understanding it can help you focus on the things that give you true long-term fulfilment versus things that only provide momentary satisfaction”.
Many people make the mistake of conflating happiness and excitement, and this rarely ends well for them. For example, indulging in drugs and alcohol can be exciting and satisfying in the short-term, but relying on it for a sense of happiness is obviously incredibly destructive for the individual and for those around them.
Christopher says, “Addiction is, unfortunately, something that many people suffer with when they struggle to find true happiness, they become dependent on the thrill of a substance to carry them through each day rather than simply being content with who they are.”
He goes on to say, “Excitement is basically a temporary emotional state that is induced by expecting something you know will be pleasurable, like when you hear an ice cream truck come down the street, while true happiness is something that is more permanent that is not going to be influenced by random events throughout the day.”
It’s easy to be excited by a particular thing and not be truly happy with your life as a whole. This is why life coaches like Christopher Roberts teach their clients how to identify what they really want from life and achieve it so that they can achieve true long-term happiness.
Christopher adds, “Often, people can become obsessed with material things that they think will give the happiness they seek, such as a new car or new pair of shoes, but these are only temporarily exciting things.”
Excitement is an important aspect of living life, but it shouldn’t be confused with true happiness. Even if you are wealthy and have the means to fill your life with exciting holidays and new gadgets all the time, they won’t provide the long-term happiness that everyone craves.
On this, Christopher says, “This is why I have clients from all walks of life, rich and poor, young and old; everyone wants to know the secret to be happy. The truth is that there is no grand secret, everyone is different and what will make them happy is going to depend on a lot of factors. Also, happiness is a dynamic thing, people can rarely mark a day in their calendar they became truly happy – it’s a seamless process that you won’t immediately notice because truly happy people don’t constantly think about how happy they are, it’s automatic.”
David Smith was born and raised in Calgary Alberta and loves to share his passion for health and fitness with others. Apart from running his own podcast, which uploads weekly shows that covers current health trends, he spends his time canoeing and backpacking. David recently spent a summer working at the CFIA as a health supplement reviewer. In regards to academics, David studied kinesiology at Guelph University.
