Everyone must follow their own paths to happiness. And this is mine:
The biggest key to my happiness has been

By reaching out to others, you can help each other and make a huge difference to each others lives. Helping others can be a huge happiness booster. Psychology Professor Karen Pine at the University of Hertfordshire says that "when we make others happy we tend to feel good ourselves too." Experience has taught me that it is the little things that make a big difference. In January 2012, I set up my own support page on Facebook, to promote the humorous side of chronic illness (believe me, there is a humorous side) and to reach out to other people all over the world. My mother taught me from a young age that knowledge is power. When people come together in a support group to share information and advice, you are empower each other to take charge of your illness and fight back. By supporting each other, you are helping each other.
I am thankful we live in an age where we can communicate with people all over the world at the touch of a button. Many chronically ill people are housebound and cannot attend local support groups, or there are no local support groups available. But thanks to the Internet, we can support each other online. By being there for someone, by sharing advice and support, you can make a huge difference to someone's life. Like I said earlier, joining support groups saved my life and I am grateful to those people who are there for me, supporting me and cheering me on.
Thank you for saving my life every day. You are my friends and my heroes.
To draw a conclusion to today's blog post, I will now leave you with a final thought: the most important lesson I have learned about happiness is that each person's idea of happiness is different. You do not have to measure up your happiness against someone else's, because it will not make you happy. In fact, it will make you feel depressed. I spent many years, especially my teenage years, trying to measure myself up against other people and feeling inadequate. Everyone else seemed to have had it all figured out: they were seemingly happy, confident, outgoing and at ease with themselves and their lives. Then I grew up, I left my teenage years behind me and entered adulthood with a lot of emotional baggage. But it was life experience, combined with being diagnosed debilitating chronic illnesses, that made me realise that everyone is in the same boat; even the most happy person in my eyes does not, in fact, have it all figured out. We are all in this together. Life experience has also taught me that placing unfair expectations on yourself is the key to misery. You do not deserve it. You are you and in the words of Dr Seuss, "there is no-one Youer than You." Your own personal keys to happiness are unique, made just for you. Use them and embrace them.
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