it's not up to you

hi.
today, I'm gonna show you something pretty.

nice, uh? simple pleasures can significantly improve the quality of your life. riding a bike, eating ice-cream with a bunch of funny people are just an example. living carefully, enjoying exercises, developing love for healthy food, finding one's creative hobbies, being honest with yourself and kind to other people.

it's pretty but it's a lie.

one can live one's life honestly, despite the society's traditional views; one can be careful and reflective about their everyday life; one can travel quite a lot and be open and kind in their interpersonal relations.
but honestly,
it won't bring you money. it won't bring you people with whom you have real connection and mutual understanding. venturing into new places won't necessarily help you find yourself, it may actually cause the opposite thing to happen -- being lost and unassisted causes feelings of being upset and miserable.
by the way, not all feelings are beautiful. some of them are like a black dog. like a sediment on your heart. like a bitter sting. some feelings are never worth experiencing.
it is not easy to change your job. it is not up to you what kind of people you encounter -- more of coincidence, actually.
a bike ride and ice-cream can make your spirits rise, but the road to happiness takes more than five steps seemingly derived from Paulo Coelho's books.
life is not simple.
there are both easily achievable pleasures and deep dark states of mind where ice-cream won't really make any difference.
I don't like the modern urban shallow philosophy lying to people that if they are an average middle-class folks, with food to eat and fairly good health, and they still can't find themselves happy, then it's their problem -- but they are almost there, cause it's sooo easy.
it's not. never been.
I'm not saying we should all stay in and cry. I am active and will encourage anybody to try the same.
but I can only decide what I give, but it's not up to me what I get given.