With the understanding that self-care is very important and should always be a priority, we should also talk about how happiness can be achieved by making others happy.

The key of course is balance, being a people pleaser and not worrying about your own needs or mental health can also be detrimental and lead to stress, anxiety, and even depression.

How can one derive happiness from others? I have found that many times things that I enjoy also bring joy to others. For example, my car wrap may make someone else smile. Even though I wrapped the car for myself it is always so nice when I get approached by someone who sees my wrap and says “wow that’s cool I love that”. It ends up being a shared moment because I have just met someone else who likes the same things I do and knowing that it brought a smile to their face makes me happy. So I found happiness through shared interests.

But how else can we derive happiness from others? I have tried to get into the habit of smiling at strangers I meet in public. You would be surprised at how often people smile back. Smiling even when you are not happy has the effect of putting you in a better mood more often than not. So when I smile at someone it makes my outlook more positive and for those who smiled back at you maybe they were having a bad day and now their mood has lifted even if just a little.