John-Roger and Peter Mc Williams, in their book “Life 101,” write:

    Happiness is not easy. It is not for the weak, the timid, the wishy-washy, the easily dissuaded, or the uncertain.

    Happiness is not for wimps.

    Happiness requires courage, stamina, persistence, fortitude, perseverance, bravery, boldness, valor, vigor, concentration, solidity, substance, backbone, grit, guts, moxie, nerve, pluck, resilience, spunk, tenacity, tolerance, will power, chutzpah and a good thesaurus

    If you believe the authors, you might think that happiness is not worth the effort. In fact, many people do give up trying to be happy because they can see too many obstacles in the way.

    Take the miserable woman trapped in an unhappy marriage that is getting worse by the day. The situation is so dire that she feels there are only two options left to her: leave or work like crazy to change the situation. The first option is scary and life-changing. The second is so daunting that she is discouraged just thinking about it. So she settles back and tries to grin while she bears the pain.

    Or the unhappy worker who is stuck in a job that he hates but is unwilling to quit because the money is so good.

    It is true that happiness is not easy, even if some happy persons might make it look easy. Happiness often calls for some tough decisions and a great deal of sacrifice. To get that which you are convinced will make you happy might call for a determined and sustained effort. It could mean finding the courage to do what you know must be done, even if that means suffering and pain in the short term.

    Unhappy people often get frozen in their unhappiness. They cannot seem to get up and move. They are so down and out with themselves that they cannot find the courage to take the steps needed to pull them forward and away from their misery.

    Worse, there are persons who firmly believe that happiness will find them rather than them having to go out and find it.

    We do have those moments when happiness seems to come upon us effortlessly, but more often than not, we have to make a determined effort to make it happen. It might even come down to a great fight with our own selves.