I first came across Deliciously Ella a few months back via her Instagram page. While I am not a vegan, my interest in healthy living and eating made me read more about her and her journey.
Plagued with health issues, she overhauled her lifestyle by altering her diet and lifestyle. All of this led to her starting a successful business. Last year, she and her partner began a podcast and as I was listening to the first episode, something she said really made me sit up.
As she was entailing her journey with her health struggles and the effect it had on her parents, she said this about her mother’s state of mind as she saw her daughter struggling — ‘you’re only as happy as your unhappiest child.’
The statement hit me like a ton of bricks.
It goes beyond just parents and children. The way I read it is this — you’re only as happy as the one thing that is really bothering you.
It can be a job, a relationship, a dream you’ve been sitting on. The more it gnaws at you, the more it robs you of your happiness. So I would rephrase the line as ‘you’re only as happy as the thing that you know you should be doing, but aren’t.’
We will never reach a state where we feel we have covered all bases. Even if we feel that way, those moments are few and far between. But a lot of unhappiness, dissatisfaction and restlessness in our lives invariably stems from something we have been ignoring,or putting off, or not facing.
Facing the thing that is making us unhappy may cause some short-term discomfort but it is the very thing that moves us towards finding the happiness and peace that is seemingly eluding us.
