| How many of us are unhappy about the way our life | | | | first actually identify just what exactly it is, and so the |
| is, and long for something more? Numerous | | | | following exercise should go some way to assisting |
| psychiatrists and sociologists have used and relied | | | | you to narrow the range down. Write down all of the |
| upon a number of buzz words and labels to not only | | | | various outlets in your life (such as work, family, |
| define this sense of unhappiness with life but also, to | | | | hobbies) and then note the degree of satisfaction you |
| actually pinpoint the causes for it. Emile Durkheim, the | | | | have with those areas. Be honest, and do not hesitate |
| so called father of modern sociology developed his | | | | when jotting them down. |
| theory of functionalism and made reference to the | | | | Once you have identified your weaker areas, the next |
| phenomena he dubbed “anomie” to describe the | | | | step is to work out just why you feel so blue about |
| individuals alienation from society as a whole. Robert | | | | them. Are you spending too much time in some parts |
| Merton sought to expand upon the workings of | | | | of your life, to the detriment of others? Does this have |
| Durkheim and developed his own theory, “Strain | | | | the effect of knocking you off balance as a whole? If |
| theory” whereby the lack of access to legitimate | | | | so, then it is important that you take proactive steps to |
| avenues for success alienates members of society. | | | | resolve such unhappiness and disharmony. |
| However, the problem with all of these different | | | | Identify the steps that will make you happy, such as |
| theories is that they attempt pigeon hole an entire | | | | getting a promotion to ease money woes. Once you |
| society into a clearly and somewhat rigidly defined | | | | have done that, you need to then identify the smaller |
| label with little to no consideration for the subtle | | | | milestones you will need to achieve in order to fulfill the |
| nuances and differences that exist between different | | | | larger objective. Make sure that you set a deadline for |
| people. Therefore, the only person who can ever truly | | | | these goals and mark them in a prominent position so |
| improve your life is….you. You ARE the master of | | | | that you do not lose sight of them (both literally and |
| your destiny, and the direction which your life will | | | | figuratively speaking.) Try and set a deadline that is |
| ultimately take. Exercise that right, use that | | | | realistic, but which poses enough of a challenge so as |
| responsibility and take charge of your fate, and | | | | to actually move you out of your comfort zone if even |
| achieve all that you want! | | | | for a little while. |
| In order to resolve a problem it is necessary for us to | | | | |