By Saerla Murphy – Founder of Croi Living

As a generation (21-35 approximately ) we seem to have so many opportunities and successes in our lives, but are stressed and unfulfilled. We have spent years building careers, only to get close to the top and look around and say, “is this it?” or “do I have to do this for another 30 years?” We are burnt out and seek solace in the numbing activities of alcohol, drugs (prescription and recreational), and sex. We try to find balance and rush from work to a yoga session hoping to connect with the feeling of joy we are seeking. We are addicted to social media and damage our mental health through comparison with the ideal. We whittle away our time on devices addicted to the dopamine highs of getting a “like” for sharing an activity we just did only to suffer the subsequent low when it wears off (or if we didn’t get any “likes”).

We seem to be on a never-ending quest to find our happiness. We seem to think  happiness is just around the corner in a “thing”, in the next pay rise, when we get the mortgage, or the next trip abroad. We are constantly striving to better ourselves, we don’t seem to be able to sit back and say “I’m happy with my lot, I’m proud of who I am and what I have.” The sad reality is when we achieve the next goal we were striving for, the happiness doesn’t come with it.

For many years I was a victim of this reality. I achieved all my goals for my 20s (and panicked through most of them worrying that I wouldn’t), only to get to my 30s and feel burnt out, in debt and on a treadmill I couldn’t get off. I noticed many of my friends were expressing similar sentiments. I’m not saying we were never happy and were walking around with a black cloud over our head but there was a sense of unrest that surfaced at times. We are conditioned to reach for the stars, to get there as fast as we can and we have failed if we aren’t the brightest star in the sky. But the reality is being the best for the sake of being the best doesn’t bring happiness.

I decided over time I didn’t want to live the rest of my life like this. I realised that I had all of these “things” and I wasn’t happy so I must be looking in the wrong place for happiness. I put a lot of time, energy and money into educating myself about life, myself, psychology, medication, health and money (and trust me I’ve only really touched the tip of the iceberg!).

Through my research and exploration I’ve found out that happiness and a life of meaning comes from living a life of value. We feel joy through living experiences in line with our values. Ask yourself “what do I value in life?” It might be having a family, being in nature, working with people etc. If you value “family time” but spend all your time at work and miss out on family occasions then you’re not living in line with your values and this will affect your levels of happiness. Ask yourself “what experiences do I want in life” and if you’re not living them right now, why not? The “why not” is key, and you need to be really honest with yourself because it is often here we find the barriers we create for ourselves that hold us back from creating a life of meaning.

Through my journey of self-exploration and trying to create a life of meaning I realised that I always wanted to set up my own business but I always had excuses why it wasn’t the right time. I also really want to help people live their best life. It’s for all those reasons I decided to bite the bullet and set up my business Croi Living. Croí Living is a platform that shares expert, evidenced based information and advice about health and wellness through events and blogs (follow me @croiliving on Instagram or see Croi Living ). It’s important to me that people get the right information from people with training in the specific area so they can expect to see positive results in their life.

Now that Croí Living is out in the public it’s exciting and petrifying all at the same time, and now really wasn’t the right time to set it up (I just had a baby). But its out there and every day I learn something more about business and myself, I focus on trying to grow it as opposed to expect it to be perfect from day one.

I wish you all the best in finding your passion, and meaning. If there is anything we can do at Croí Living to help, just get in touch!

If you’re interested, the link to remaining tickets the first Croi Living Event right here – next Saturday January 20th!