Some ideas sound great on paper but fall apart the moment real life gets involved. “Do one thing every day that scares you” is one of them. It’s catchy, it’s bold, it feels like the kind of quote you’d see next to a mountain climber hanging off a cliff. But honestly? Who wants to live in a constant state of fear just to feel like they’re growing? Being terrified every day isn’t brave—it’s exhausting.
What’s actually hard, strangely enough, is choosing happiness on purpose. Not the loud kind, not the Instagram-worthy peaks, but the small, steady choices that make life lighter. The tiny pieces of your day you look forward to—the walk outside before the world wakes up, the coffee you make exactly the way you like it, the song you play on repeat because it hits the right spot, the text to someone you love just to say hi. None of that is dramatic. None of it is terrifying. But all of it builds a life that feels like yours.
And somewhere along the way, I realized that doing what makes you happy isn’t the easy route. It’s the brave one. It means saying no to noise, no to pressure, no to the version of you that’s constantly performing. It means admitting that joy matters just as much as achievements, deadlines, and whatever everyone else is applauding that week.
So maybe the challenge isn’t to scare yourself. Maybe the real courage is in slowing down long enough to notice what lifts you. And then doing more of that—not because it looks impressive, but because it feels real.
Do one thing every day that makes you happy. That’s it. Some days it’ll be something tiny. Some days it’ll be something unexpected. Some days it’ll just be choosing peace over chaos, softness over stress, yourself over your checklist.
That’s the stuff that fills a life. That’s the kind of consistency that creates calm, not panic. That’s the kind of practice that actually transforms you—not through fear, but through joy.
And honestly? That’s a much better way to live.
Kenrick Vaz 