"Socially we're told 'Go work out. Go look good.'

That's a multi-player competitive game.

Other people can see if I'm doing a good job or not.

We're told, 'Go make money. Go buy a big house.'

Again, external multi-player competitive game.

Training yourself to be happy is completely internal.

There is no external process, no external validation.

You're competing against yourself - it is a single-player game."

- Lifted from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant - a shorthand guide to wealth, health, and happiness that I just finished this morning.

Maybe that's why happiness is so hard to maintain (as an only-child I am 100% certain that single-player games are not as stimulating as playing against others).

Nevertheless, it's a skill I'm working on and getting better at every day.

How?

1. By focusing on the present (not future-casting or past-regretting)

2. Accepting the things I cannot change (and discarding of the desire for it to be any other way)

3. Gratitude (basic)