Happiness Is Something We Work At

For Laura, a lot of barriers to happiness are “just life happening.” Laura found that her friendships changed over time. “Suddenly there are friends that you are no longer in contact with… my interests also changed.” Laura used to be “a bit of a party animal” and extrovert – someone who enjoyed going out and meeting new people and attending music and shows.

But over time she became more interested in spirituality and her internal world. “I started to prefer being connected and in the moment, rather than surrounded by music or noise. So I realized that suddenly we had less things in common.”

At the same time, Laura was in a major accident that impeded her ability to walk freely. “Activities that I used to do before, like just walking around, going to festivals, things like that, are no longer doable for me. It’s a completely different situation. So I had to find a way to adapt to all of these.”

Laura’s interest in spirituality made it easier to cope with this major change. “It was a very challenging experience … but the fact that I was already on a spiritual journey really, really helped me, because it helped me to look at things with a different perspective.” 

Laura found that this perspective helped her deal with what was right in front of her, instead of sinking into self-pity. “Because of my spiritual journey, I knew, okay, so life happens. And most of the time it’s not exactly what we expected. But there isn’t anything that we can’t handle.” Laura was able to stay in the present and focus on solving one thing at a time,  “And that helped me to go through this difficult experience in a more positive way.”