Happiness is a choice. No matter how many lifestyle trends are discussed, the choice to be happy remains with you as a person. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 4 lifestyle trends that make you happier.

Hygge

This is a Scandanavian lifestyle trend that is basically about achieving coziness in everyday life. In essence, it is about taking pleasure from the presence of gentle, soothing things and choosing to ignore things that might be annoying or emotionally overwhelming.

It is basically about ‘cutting the clutter’ from your life and finding solace in contentment and your general well-being. Hygge is indeed a soothing trend that helps you appreciate the little things and makes you happier.

The Hygge trend typically involves: finding comfort in and enjoying everyday rituals; making use of warm lighting to leverage their warming and comforting effect; establishing relaxation zones in your home; embracing old and imperfect things while trying to find creative ways to make them useful; and uncluttering your home to make it more stress-free and mess-free.

Spending less time on devices

It is important to spend less time building a life in the virtual world and more time doing so in real time. No matter how good you are at networking and meeting new people on social media, you still need to develop tangible relationships with these people if you want to make anything out of your networking efforts. In addition, letting pictures of what your friends and colleagues have or are doing depress you because you think you don’t have or are not doing any better, is such a masochistic way to live, when you can be out there meeting new people, living your life and having your own experiences to share. It is not so much about trying to live up to the standard of your friends or colleagues, but about taking charge of your life and defining your own standards.

Do something kind

Doing things for people or communities can be a great way to boost your mood. Being kind is actually one of the major things that bring people joy. Researchers found that kindness improves the way we perceive others, and when an individual does something spontaneously to help others it can positively change their whole attitude.

Exercising

Exercise is another great way to boost your mood and this manifests in how good you feel about yourself and your body after you have completed a good workout. This is mainly because the body releases endorphin during exercise, which in turn makes you feel happy. The best part of exercising is that you don’t need a gym membership to do it, all you need is to just remain active throughout the day – jog a little, walk around or basically just find any excuse to get your joints moving, and find ways to incorporate some kind of activity into your daily routine, rather than just living a sedentary life.