Changing Happiness

The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a
particular mood of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change
its form. . . happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up.

Charles L. Morgan


It seems to be a common mistake that we make, thinking that happiness is always going to be the same thing for us.  It changes not just as we grow up and learn about different possibilities in life, but it also changes day by day, hour by hour.  While I may find happiness in the morning by going for a long, easy run, my happiness in the afternoon will consist of curling up on the couch next to a lamp with a book in my hands and a glass of wine on the table next to me.  Neither of those things would have made me even the slightest bit happy when I was ten or twelve years old.  Happiness isn't a question of specific things that have to happen or we're unhappy--happiness is recognizing where we are and when it is and finding what's best for us at that moment.
Is that new job going to bring you lasting happiness?  Nope.  It may provide conditions that can contribute to your happiness, but the job itself won't make you happy.  You must look for what makes you happy and allow that to change and grow as you move on in your life.  Something that made you happy one or five or fifteen years ago can't be expected to still bring you happiness--you're a different person now, and your needs and desires have changed significantly, so you need to find the new forms of happiness that are much more fitting for you now.
It's very common to see people feel confused when they realize that the things that used to make the happy no longer do so.  You may grow perplexed from time to time, also.  But when you open yourself up to the possibility that change has happened and you follow your heart to find out what makes you happy now, you can find a whole new world of happiness--and it already surrounds you.  It's just waiting for you to recognize it.