I once heard a quote that has stuck with me ever since:

Now I’m not saying you should never get upset. We all do. It’s a part of human nature and it’s inevitable. Things go wrong. People let you down. Friends and family come in and out of our lives. We have fights. We break a meaningful possession. The emotion of “upset” happens.

But don’t dwell on it longer than you have to.

Don’t let the trivial take away your minutes of potential happiness.

How many minutes of happiness are you willing to spend on any one thing?

Take a moment to think if this is really something that is worth being upset about. If it is that’s perfectly fine. Allow yourself the time you need to be upset then move on. Otherwise you might be spending your happiness unnecessarily.

Obviously this is going to be different for every person. We all have different personalities and deal with things in our own ways. There are always things that will upset me – some more than others. But when I do get upset about something, I think about how much happiness I’m willing to give up for whatever is bothering me. Is it an hour? A day? A week?

Every unfortunate situation is going to hold a different value. Personally I usually give myself a day. I have 24 hours – 1440 minutes – to be upset about something that is really bothering me. Then after that day is over, it’s done. I either have to have found a solution by that time that relieves me of the problem, or I have to get to a place where I’m no longer sacrificing my potential happiness. Another quote comes to mind here:

My happiness is worth a lot to me. I don’t like to be miserable or upset. I consider myself to be a generally happy and positive person. Obviously I can’t be like that all the time, but time is precious. So why not spend your time on happiness instead of discontent.

There are 525,600 minutes in a year (now I have that RENT song stuck in my head). Even if you only spend a total of 20 days out of 365 upset about something (which, considering everything that can happen in a year, I think that’s pretty darn good), that’s 28,800 minutes. If you’re upset for 40 days? 57,600 minutes. 100 days? 144,000 minutes.
You get the picture.

Was it worth losing those minutes of happiness? Maybe. That’s completely up to you. No one but you can say if it was worth it or not.

But when I think about it this way, I’m much more likely to spend my minutes on things that are truly upsetting and worth giving up happiness for. The waitress who got my order wrong? Not worth it. The pair of clothes I ripped or got paint on? Not worth it. Missing the bus and having to wait an hour for the next one? Going to a place you’re excited to see and find it’s surrounded by hordes of tourists or it’s raining so hard you can’t see five feet in front of you? To me, not worth it.

Budget travelers always talk about spending and budgeting their money wisely.

I think it is just as important to spend your happiness wisely.

“As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let you down… probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it’s harder every time. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll fight with your best friend. You’ll blame a new love for things an old one did. You’ll cry because time is passing too fast and you’ll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you have never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back.” -Unknown