What I Learned About Happiness Hilton Head Island Edition
What I learned about happiness by moving to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina many, many years ago. At the time, I was living in Calgary, Alberta, and I was searching for a new position. I wanted to do something different. And I thought that maybe I would go work on a cruise ship, and I thought that that sounded amazing. I thought, yeah, maybe I'll go work on a cruise ship for six months. As I was searching for jobs on cruise ships, there was a popup that came on my computer and it said internships on Hilton Head Island, with a picture of this beautiful white sand beach. I clicked on the popup and started exploring this island that I'd never heard of before in the Southeast of the United States, and just immediately was like, wow, I would love to go spend a summer there.
I had always liked children, and the position was a camp counselor. I ended up applying and getting a position and got on a plane and moved to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and I lived there for three months at the age of 20-years-old. This three-month experience absolutely transformed my life. I mean, it changed the trajectory of my entire life. I want to share with you five happiness lessons that I learned by moving to this island and making this decision.
The first is when you feel lost and uninspired, change your environment. If you can do a drastic change like I did, go to a new place where you don't know anyone. By doing that, you see yourself in a whole new light and there's a lot of self-reflection and learning and awareness that happens. Of course, when you change your environment, you're going to have a whole new perspective on yourself, on what you want and just on life in general. It's so, so powerful.
The second is when you get out of your comfort zone, even though it's easier to stay in your comfort, when you get out of your comfort zone, inevitably you're going to grow, and that's exactly what I did. The third is to spend time serving others. I went from serving cocktails and food in restaurants and bars in Calgary to serving and helping and supporting children. And no, I wasn't serving the kids drinks, right? I went from serving to serving, but in such a more powerful way, and my joy, my purpose, my meaning flourished. So I will ask you, how are you serving others right now? Or how are you serving animals? Or how are you serving the earth? It was a huge, huge lesson on serving others.
The fourth lesson I learned, and actually, this experience inspired my entire career in the hospitality industry, so spending three months on Hilton Head Island allowed me to see that there's this giant industry called the tourism industry. I learned that I could have a really awesome career in this industry. I was just surrounded by hotels and boats and golf, this whole industry. I saw this money engine behind it and thought, oh my gosh, I could work in an industry that is around tourism. As I said, it changed the trajectory of my entire life.
The last lesson, which maybe is the most important is that when you're feeling low, when you're feeling stuck, when you're feeling down, know that there is more to life. There is always more to life. This three months in South Carolina reminded me that there is so much more to life.
I hope this video gave you a little inspiration, and there will be more sessions and videos about lessons from, as I've lived in so many different, incredible places around the world. If you liked this video, subscribe to my channel. There is a new video every single Friday at 10:00 AM Pacific to help you increase your happiness and wellbeing and success in life, and to also help you increase your happiness as a leader, as well as happiness at work. So definitely subscribe below and share this video. If you go to arriveathappy.com, there is a complimentary happiness class just for you, so go check that out too.