I Learned the 5 Keys to Happiness From a Creep at the Airport

It’s not weird, I promise. He was weird- I’m not.

Photo by Ivan Shimko on Unsplash

I really should’ve seen the signs sooner.

This guy on my flight was a little too eager to sit next to me, a little too happy to talk for three and a half hours, and a little too excited to have each other’s numbers. To my defense, he was very friendly. I thought he was just a really nice guy.

But then…some things should have stood out clearer as red flags.

He called me beautiful one too many times, he said he had to look away because I was so beautiful, and my eyes were beautiful- it’s like the only compliment he knew. I had a great time talking to him, but after texting him, I found out he was a creep.

Needless to say, I blocked him.

Anyways, during our conversation, this guy did happen to impart some bits of wisdom. Weird, I know, but stay with me.

He said there were 5 keys to happiness:

1. Mental Stability

2. Spiritual Stability

3. Stability of the Heart

4. Physical Stability

5. Financial Stability

I’ll expand on what he told me. Let’s start with mental stability.

You need to be mentally clear in order to best live your life. I can speak from personal experience. In 2016, I had a mental health crisis and had to drop out of college. I was beyond depressed, numb to the point of exhaustion. All I could do was stare at the wall all day and hope I felt better tomorrow. Years of therapy and support led me to regain my mental stability, and eventually find a life that I’m happy to live. It was the first step in this journey to happiness this strange man laid out for me.

Spiritual stability has to do with finding a greater God or force to follow. Whether it be the God of Christianity or the Universe as a concept, you need something that’ll align your life for the better. This following of something gives your life purpose within the cosmos, and meaning as a human. Use this god figure to guide you when determining who you want to be, and what kinds of choices you’ll make.

Stability of the heart has to do with your desires. What do you want out of this life? Who do you want to love? You need to have a stable heart in order to truly be happy. Chasing after every fickle thing that you want will never fill the void in your chest. You need to find true love, whether it’s by loving another person in a healthy relationship, or by diving into a passion of yours to become an expert in your talents.

What your heart wants also matters because it’s YOUR heart. You need to do what YOUR heart wants, not what someone else wants. In other words, if someone has a life planned out for you, and it’s not a lifepath that excites you, you need to be the bigger person, stand up for yourself, and do what YOU want. End of discussion.

Physical stability is pretty self-explanatory- you need to eat right and be fit in order for your physical body to be happy. The occasional fruit cup and walk down the street isn’t going to cut it. You have to dedicate real time and energy into this. Meal-prepping for the week is a great way to start. It forces you to make sure you’ve hit all the food groups for all the week’s meals while controlling portion sizes.

As for being physically fit, the benefits are endless: lowering risk of heart disease, for starters, along with keeping obesity at bay and energy to play with the kids. It’s important to both eat right and to exercise in healthy and sustainable ways.

And, finally, financial stability. This is the one that everyone struggles with these days. With the housing market making it impossible to find an affordable house, and the job market being impossible to navigate, it’s no wonder that financial stability is nearly a myth. It all starts with budgeting. Tracking how much you make every week or every two weeks, and choosing not to spend more than you make is essential.

Building credit, raising your credit score, and holding a job for longer than six months are all steps to help you get there. It takes a very long time to improve, but it’s crucial to creating that end goal of a happy life for yourself.

Mental, spiritual, heart, physical, and financial stability all work together to form a happy life. Each pillar needs to be stable and strong in order to support the life you want to live.

I may end up writing a book about these tenants someday just because each one is so important, and I wish I had the time to expand on these points more. But, for now, this article will be more of a snapshot.

So, thank you to the creep I met on the airplane for introducing me and the world to these concepts, even if you really wanted to kidnap me. It all worked out.