Independence And Happiness. Independence Or Happiness — Choice Is Yours, Stakes Are High!
By: Payal Khare Bhatnagar
Tags: Happiness, Nonfiction, Strength, Freedom, Peace Of Mind

Independence And Happiness. Independence Or Happiness — Choice Is Yours, Stakes Are High!

Real independence is more about peace of mind than happiness.

Image from Quotemaster

This comes from a writing prompt titled, ‘’Gather Your Strength’’ by Samantha Lazar. The theme is Susan. B. Anthony’s quote, ‘’Independence is happiness.’’.

It makes me think that what has independence got to do with strength, especially if independence is happiness.

Then it dawns upon me that perhaps both have everything to do with each other. The equation is simple. You are happy when you are free. Being free stems from being strong. So, happiness and strength are directly proportional to each other.

Or are they?

And is the equation that simple?

I am not talking of the independence which comes with travel backpacks and earning your own money. I am talking about the independence you trade off for a non-controversial existence when you don’t write about what you really want to shout aloud or when you don’t unfriend people who have walked out of your heart long ago. I said heart, so I am talking only about the ones who once were there in it.

The clutches all this keeps you tied in are daunting. What if tomorrow your dream-like life comes true? How will you justify that revealing patch created by your words of yesterday, written in an emotional outburst? Those friends without friendship stand on the very rope which tie you to many other precious relationships. How can you drop them and risk breaking the rope?You will then subject yourself to mockery or embarrassment. Loneliness and blames won’t be far away.

There, my friend, the real strength comes in. Sneaking in a quiet, timid and unsure demeanor. Whispering in your ears that it’s enough now. Half of your lifetime has already passed, let the story play out and let the rope break, if it must. Then see what remains. May be nothing. May be a lot. But either way, all of what you have now is also not all yours, anyway.

Happiness is a state of mind. Easier said than experienced. Eventually you will find happiness anyhow — that is the survival instinct less talked about. But peace of mind is what you earn. By giving up some relationships, some unrealistic goals and some deep rooted self-images. Also, there’s a whole package with a ‘’items cannot be sold individually’’ tag. You get some angst and heartbreaks for free.

Come, let’s talk of the freedom equation again. If you have read till now, I will take the liberty to say that the real equation is a little different from the one above.

Once you earn your peace of mind, it’s then that you get free in actuality. But to earn peace of mind, you have to gather strength. Remember the timid, unsure but consistent voice within? You always knew what was right and wrong for you. What really holds value to you and what would actually put you off worries. You just could not figure out if it’s worth putting something out to bring that in.

But hey, in all this, what happened to happiness. ‘’The popular Happiness’’, you know. Don’t we find it in the small joys of everyday life? In all honesty, isn’t it something you know can originate from within you anytime? Because it is just a state of mind.

Neither of the above seem to be mutually exclusive though.

So, at least from where I see, being free or independence is actually more about peace of mind than happiness. Especially as you age and learn to create happiness but struggle to find peace of mind amidst pretending to have it all together.

Concluding with this: