Don’t Let Arbitrary Numbers Determine How Happy You Get to Be

I swear everything these days is determined by a number — the number on the scale, the number of Instagram followers, the number of likes on a post, the number of subscribers. I think you get the point.

Photo by i yunmai on Unsplash

For a long time, I let arbitrary numbers tell me how I could feel. For most of my youth, it was the number on the scale. These days I am more mindful of what I let have an influence on my life and my emotions, which has freed me to focus on the things that I find valuable. And I urge you to do the same thing, because at the end of the day what we take with us are the memories we have created with the people and places that matter to us most.

I want to give you an example from my life to show you how miserable I was when all I paid attention to was my weight. Back in college, I hopped on the ‘clean eating’ wagon to lose weight and in the hopes of one day look like a fitness model (I’ve talked more extensively on this here). I allowed myself one cheat day (Friday) and for the remainder of the week/weekend, I had to be ‘perfect’ with my diet and exercise plan. If I faltered, my world would come crashing down and I would try to ‘undo the damage’ I had made by eating a bunch of cookies. I…