Four Simple Choices That Support a Happier Life

This updated guide preserves four core paths to happiness: be yourself, don't sweat small problems, prioritize relationships, and maintain hope. It offers short, actionable guidance on each point and notes that mental-health trends shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical habits - authenticity, perspective, connection, and hope - support everyday contentment.

Happiness is less a destination and more a set of habits. Many people look for it in money, vacations, careers, or other people. Those things can help, but lasting contentment often comes from small choices we repeat daily.

1. Be yourself

Stop measuring yourself against other people. Comparing yourself will usually leave you feeling better than others or inferior to them, neither of which breeds contentment. Real happiness grows when you accept who you are and act with sincerity.

People respond to authenticity. When you show your true self, you build trust and reduce the energy spent pretending. That doesn't mean you stop growing - being yourself includes owning both strengths and flaws and choosing to improve from that place.

2. Don't sweat the small stuff

We spend a lot of time worrying about things that never happen. As Mark Twain said, "I worried about a lot of things in life and 90% of them never happened." Worry tries to control the uncontrollable. It's like a rocking chair: lots of movement but it never gets you anywhere.

Notice when anxiety focuses on hypothetical future problems. Use simple habits: limit your "what if" time, practice grounding (breathe, name five things you can see), and focus on the next actionable step rather than every possible outcome.

3. Value relationships

When people look back on life, relationships - not trophies or possessions - tend to matter most. Investing time, attention, and kindness in others builds a social and emotional safety net that supports happiness.

Prioritize listening, follow-through, and small acts of generosity. Strong relationships don't require perfection; they require presence and consistency.

4. Don't lose hope

Hopelessness follows when people stop believing change is possible. Even in tough times, look for something positive you can do now. Hope is an active stance: it fuels small efforts that accumulate into real change.

If faith matters to you, draw on it; many people find strength in their relationship with God or their spiritual beliefs. If you struggle to find hope, reach out for help - friends, mentors, or mental-health professionals can provide perspective and tools.

Putting the four together

These four choices - authenticity, perspective, relationship-building, and sustaining hope - work together. Being yourself frees energy you can invest in relationships. Letting go of small worries preserves mental space for meaningful action. Hope keeps you going when progress is slow. Together they create a practical, everyday path toward greater well-being.

Note: rates of anxiety and depression rose during the COVID-19 pandemic and use of mental-health services and medications increased; trends continue to change post-pandemic.

1. Confirm changes in rates of anxiety and depression and changes in use of mental-health services and medications during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., CDC, WHO, peer-reviewed studies).