The Pursuit of Immortality
You automatically spend more time on things you love, than you would any other type of work, hobby or lifestyle. It will consume your mind. Draw your attention from everything else. Drain your energy until you fall asleep behind your desk, in the train or at the bus stop. Scenery around you will change from time to time because you were so lost in thought, that you hadn't noticed the guy passing by riding a pink unicorn spraying bubbles of joy around with his love gun. There is no doubt in your mind that you can. Before you find one of those reasons for living that drives you, you need to figure out what you truly care about. Instead of simply existing as long as possible and saying you can't to everything strange and uncomfortable.
Pursuit of Happiness
What do you value. Is it smiling? Maths? Music? Living long or well? Either way, I think it is safe to say that we prefer life over death without even thinking about it. We never ask: Is it better to be dead long or short? Because it makes no sense - but it does! If you do not appreciate life enough, you will live it like dead person; never aware of its ephemeral nature.
Considering that the universe has been in existence for over 13 800 000 000 years. That number indicates clearly that the duration of our species' lifespans, 200 000, is nothing but a blip on the radar of a deaf kid trying to discern music by Mozart from Justin Bieber. It is important, because 40 % of your happiness is determined by your thinking (see graph) which affects your doing.
Breaking the Habits
What makes you happy is interchanged unknowingly with satisfaction, you notice it when you cannot get enough of something: Chocolate, cigarettes, love, alcohol. Afterwards you get no closer to your goal. Instead you get temporary boosts in sugar, nicotine, relaxation, escapism or more general: dopamine shots - a form of mental laziness and addiction.
Along comes desensitization to long term satisfaction, which get when you receive something you worked long for. Like a third place at a judo competition, a high school diploma, a running program in Python or simply tasting the best pancakes you ever made after realizing you are at the same level your grandmother was decades ago. Breaking those short term comfort cycles require faith.
Take the Leap
Faith in your own capacity for change and believe that when you fail, you can simply try again until you succeed. Just reading this means that you have mastered the english language already -native speaker or not- and that basis lead you to study at a university further away than most of your ancestors have ever traveled in their entire life. What is it we always ask on journeys:Are we there yet?
Image source: Wikipedia, How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky
