You don't have to wait for 'When' to be happy

​I've lived long enough to know that a lot of the things I thought would make me happy when I got them - they didn't. The 'when' in "I'll be happy when" has come and gone in my life more times than I can count - and more times than I can count - 'when' forgot to leave behind the happiness.

I've experienced this a lot in my professional life. So many times I thought happiness was in the bump - in the bump in responsibility and the bump in notoriety and in the bump in pay. And so many times, after the bump, life was less happy than ever.

I've figured out - that's because happy doesn't come from what the world pours into us, it comes on the other side of the goodness we pour into the world. When we realize that, we quit waiting on happiness and start pouring out goodness.

Six years ago, I interviewed for a part-time job at a local college helping students make healthy decisions around alcohol and drugs. In the interview, I told the director the job wasn't about the money for me, it was a mission. I told him I'd had my own battles over the years with alcohol - this job was a chance for me to give back.

I was making it clear up front - for him AND for me - happiness in this job wasn't about the paycheck, happiness was about having the freedom to pour my story into the students' lives.

Six years later I'm still doing that job. More days than not I'm happy doing it. And more days than not - when I'm NOT happy - it's because I've forgotten the job is about pouring out goodness and not about waiting on it to come through with happiness.

I would say the same about my writing. I used to think writing would make me happy when I'd have a chance to quit my jobs and sit on a cabin porch in Montana and spend my days leisurely writing. And because I couldn't do that, writing was often a source of my unhappiness.

Then I just started writing every day. My intention with the writing isn't to be happy, it's to write goodness into the world. I quit waiting on writing to make me happy and started using it to pour goodness.

And you know what's happened? As I sit here writing this morning, writing is one of my primary sources of happiness.

Today, if you find yourself mapping out 'when' it is you'll be happy - mapping out what those circumstances will look like - take it from someone who has been there and done 'when' - there's a really good chance that 'when' isn't going to make you happy.

Today, if you find yourself feeling frustrated that the things you know you need to have fall in place for you to be happy just haven't fallen in to place yet - take a break from that.

Take a break and pour some goodness into the world.

You might discover happiness doesn't come 'when' - it can actually come right now.