In our society, it is all about the ability to control and choose the path our life follows. Our constant need for control and order in our life is a major stressor affecting the majority of the population. The article, Let Go of Control: How to Learn the Art of Surrender, by Dr. Amy Johnson sheds some light on this subject, “I’ve noticed that things go much more smoothly when I give up control—when I allow them to happen instead of making them happen.” More so, contrary to popular views, life was not meant to be our choice, we are going to get trials and we cannot change that. Rather, it is our responsibility to handle how we react to life not to determine it. It is only through trials we are able to become stronger and remain in humility. Therefore, if we could all just step back and let things happen we would have less stress and therefore we could have more happiness. Expounding on this topic, in 20 Things You Gradually Learn as You Let Go of the Uncontrollable, Marc Chernoff compares life to a storm in regard to letting go, “In most cases, you can’t calm the storm – it’s not worth trying. What you can do is calm yourself, and the storm will pass.” This is a great dictum because one really has no say in what life throws at them, as previously acknowledged above, it is our job to react to the dictates of …show more content…
A healthy lifestyle encompasses many different aspects of one’s life such as exercise, sleep, and a good diet. Exercise is an excellent way to help fight depression. A letter, titled Exercise is an All-Natural Treatment to Fight Depression, from Harvard Medical School states, “That kind of activity [low-intensity exercise] spurs the release of proteins called neurotrophic or growth factors, which cause nerve cells to grow and make new connections.” This is important because, as later mentioned in the letter, it has been shown the region of the brain largely responsible for mood, the hippocampus, is significantly smaller in individuals suffering from depression. When these neurotrophics are released it allows the hippocampus to build new neural pathways and, as result, helps improve the happiness of the individual. In addition, another part of a healthy lifestyle, disregarded by many, is sleep. An article, from the blog Happier by Nataly Kogan, called The Magic of a Good Night’s Sleep heavily implies this concept when it states, “Anyone who has ever dealt with insomnia or a colicky baby already knows from experience that being tired makes us cranky. An exhausted person is not a happy person.” This is a reality we can all relate to, when one does not get enough sleep one’s day just does not go well and in turn one does not feel good. Everyone has