So many of us spend our days feeling like we work so hard at making this life work but seem to keep falling short. We work all day and what do we look forward to … something on TV? Our free time is spent seeking pleasures from eating out to shopping for a new outfit. Many of us seek our joy from watching sports or accomplishing projects around the house. And then there are those who wait all year for that amazing vacation to fill their tank. How is this working? Well, according to one study one in six Americans take some kind of psychiatric drug—mostly antidepressants. Another study found that approximately forty million Americans have some form of Anxiety. Sadly, all this effort isn’t working.

There has got to be more; right? And thank God, there is. I could take you down a hundred different paths but today lets go down one that our “Me, me, me” society doesn’t celebrate like it once did. A path leads you to more value and significance. It can help you come out of depression. And, you can begin feeling good about you and the life you are living instead of worrying about the life you are not.

You see, you were made to be a giver of life and light and not just a consumer of it. What if instead of believing the lie of the media that we should desire something because it holds a promise for us we moved to a Godly approach? What if we stopped evaluating our happiness and satisfaction from what I get and how well others serve me to what I can give and how I can serve others? Sound too simple to be life changing? Fortunately for all of us, its not.

Consider that last time you focused on how someone let you down. Did you feel better afterwards? What about when your kids interrupt your tv shows? Or when someone at work isn’t doing there part (which is typical for most places)? Does focusing on how your needs or expectations are not being met serve you well? Ok, here is my last example. Think about your last birthday and if you felt like people valued you enough? Were their gifts thoughtful and did they show they really know you and what you like? Now, think about times when you have served and given others. How did you feel then? You likely felt some level of joy and value, like you had a bigger purpose.

You see, when we focus on us we place spoken or unspoken expectations on others and our circumstances to meet our needs. This places us at the constant mercy of people and events outside our control. Thus we live in states of worrying if we will be happy and satisfied. When these needs go unmet we can get sad or even depressed. But, if we focus on how we can bless and serve others our focus changes. We can control how we help others at work who don’t deserve it. We can make every birthday great by getting our friends and family gifts and seeking to bless others on our special day. And as we focus on blessing others and invest our time in serving their needs we will live in a constant state of reaping a Godly harvest. And thus begin living a life worth celebrating. What are three ways you can focus on serving others today?

Shawn Maguire is a Licensed Professional Counselor who has over two decades of experience helping people heal from their past wounds and creating lives worth celebrating. He is the owner of New Vision Counseling where he works with a team of highly trained and compassionate therapists whose mission is to change the world one by caring for one person at a time.