In this article, I’d like us to explore why enthusiasm is essential to creating your ideal life. Before we begin, please think for a second and remember something that made you happy in the past. It could be anything. Something that made your heart sing and stirred you to joy. Maybe it’s remembering the birth of first child, a song or music, or the day you asked someone out and they actually said yes.
Pause. Think about that occasion for a moment and fix the memory and the feeling in your mind. We’ll come back to it later.
There are so many reasons why we need to be enthusiastic, but we’re going to focus on 3 powerful reasons: happiness, metamorphosis and contagion.
Happiness
We all need to be happy. This is not just my opinion, if you examine your own feelings about it, you’ll probably agree. Also, plenty of research is emerging that backs up this idea. A study by Lyubomirsky, King and Diener entitled “The Benefits of Frequent Positive Effect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?”, based on data from over 250,000 participants, led psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman to conclude:
“Happiness doesn’t just flow from success, it actually causes it”. Richard Wiseman
Let’s try an experiment of our own. Can you imagine feeling happiness? If it helps, remember the question I asked at the beginning of this post. Remind yourself of that feeling. Really recall it as if it is happening now.
Now, do you want to stay sat down sitting? Or would you rather jump up, pace around, tell someone how great it is to be alive?
True happiness generates enthusiasm and enthusiasm spreads happiness. Don’t allow your happiness to fade. Grab life by the lapels and shake all the fun you can get out of it. Don’t wait, squeeze every last drop of joy from everything you do. You deserve every iota of enjoyment from life. Your entire life should be laced with happiness. And it demands an enthusiastic response from you when you feel it.
Don’t let go of that feeling, hold on to it. Let it shine so that everyone around you feels your enthusiasm.
Transformation via Vitality
Success is a state of being, not a destination. When you begin your personal journey toward your ideal life, it is typical that you will experience some fundamental changes within yourself. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to do it with positive energy.
Some really effective ways to encourage that positive energy within yourself include sharing the joy you feel for your interests, whatever they are. Make everyone around you even more enthusiastic than you are by leading through example. Take that vitality you feel and transmit it to other people.
Show them what it’s like to be unaplogetically happy about the things you do. Whether you find joy from making costumes for rabbits, creating novelty cakes, or from collecting Pokemon cards your vitality will empower others to value their own sources of joy.
Don’t wait. Be the happiness you want to see around you (to paraphrase a more famous quote) and your vitality will transform you and others even when you don’t expect it to.
The World is Too Boring!
If you still need a reason to tap into the power of enthusiasm, consider this: every ounce of enthusiasm and positivity you project, alters the world around you.
If there’s one thing we all know about enthusiasm, is that it can be highly contagious.
The world can be a tough and gritty place. Low income, working a dead-end job, lack of appreciation, all these factors can eat away at our lives and our mental equilibrium. However, we have the power to change everything. Every day is a chance to improve the world for yourself and the people you care about.
Enthusiasm is infectious, so if you want to spread that joy, start with the people nearest to you. You are inspiring when others see and feel your enthusiasm. Many will want to join your positive mood.
There is already too much misery in this world. We have a responsibility to our mental health to embrace what life has to offer with enthusiastic abundance. Don’t wait for the people around you to do it first; be a pioneer. Be a catalyst for a better, more joyful world!
The Next Step
Don’t wait, begin today. Start right now! Pick something that stirs your soul and makes your heart sing. Remember what I asked you to do at the start of this article? Recall something that brought you joy and savour it. Hear the sounds you heard then, recall the scents and visualise it clearly in as much detail as possible. Take your time and immerse yourself completely.
Feel that joy? Tell me what it is! Tell the world. But, most importantly, tell yourself that enthusiasm is the lever through which you can move the world.