Our happiness depends a great deal on our relationships, and more particularly on how others behave towards us. The problem is that other people often disappoint us, i.e. they don’t behave as we expect them to, and we suffer as a result. That’s why we’re told that to be happy, we have to stop making our happiness dependent on others. But how can we do this? Where do you start? Here are my 4 powerful tips to help you detach yourself from your expectations of others, and it’ll do you a world of good!

1 – Stop having expectations of others

To stop making our happiness dependent on others, we need to work on our expectations of others. Because we expect a lot from others: approval, recognition, perfect respect.

But it’s a fact that all too rarely do we get all these things from the people around us, even those closest to us. So why continue to harbor these expectations? Wouldn’t it be simpler and healthier to let them go one by one?

In fact, understand that the goal in life is not to receive all these things from others, but to offer them first and foremost to ourselves. Indeed, if you’re going to have expectations, have expectations of yourself rather than of others.

So learn to offer yourself approval, recognition and respect. You’ll see that this is real work, a real life path in fact. It’s a long road, but a rewarding one.

Because to be happy in life, it’s not about being accepted by others, but above all about accepting yourself. What do you think?

2 – Become more independent to stop making your happiness dependent on others

We’ve been taught to depend on others, to depend on other people’s behavior and their judgment of us. In fact, we’re all too often the playthings of others: when they’re happy with us, we’re happy with ourselves. But when they’re not, for whatever reason, we suffer enormously.

How about regaining our independence? Indeed, what if you stopped living according to other people’s moods? Aren’t you tired of depending so much on others?

So learn to detach yourself, little by little, from the actions of others. First of all, stop analyzing other people’s behavior and stop second-guessing yourself. Example: so-and-so didn’t say hello to you this morning. Stop asking yourself why he didn’t, and above all stop asking yourself what you could have done wrong for him not to say hello.

In fact, let the other person be responsible for their bad mood, for their behavior. In fact, stop constantly questioning yourself because of others. Can you see how this could change your life?

3 – Be more tolerant and stop making your happiness dependent on others

What if others already had enough to do with their own problems and wounds to offer us everything we expect of them? Indeed, isn’t it time for us to be more tolerant of others and accept that they’re not perfect, that they make mistakes. Mistakes that may disappoint, but that we can recover from with a little tolerance?

Let’s understand that in this life, we’re all very different. We have different personalities, different needs and different ways of communicating. And, rather than hating each other for it, why not learn to love each other in spite of it?

In fact, understand that if you suffer so much because of others, it’s because you choose to suffer because of them. In fact, at any moment, you can choose to be more tolerant, and therefore judge others less harshly. What do you think?

4 – Know when to distance yourself from certain people

So, there are people who are intentionally mean to us. There are people who behave in ways that are intentionally designed to make us react, and even to make us suffer.

We have to get away from these people, get them out of our lives. In fact, we waste too much time enduring relationships that are toxic for us, relationships that tire us out so much that, little by little, we lose all patience with everyone. And that’s how we ruin our lives.

So, learn to be more tolerant with the right people, and stay away from those who are harmful to you. In other words, stop wasting your time and energy on the wrong people. What do you think?

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover How to live a more fulfilling life: the 3 pillars of happiness
Discover How to love life: simple ideas for inviting happiness

In addition, I recommend this inspiring books on the subject:

You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
The author set out to write the book in a conversational and humorous style, making it an appealing and relatable read for those looking to stimulate self-confidence, conquer self-doubt and take control of their lives.
This is an incredible book for those who need to grow in a personal way, bearing in mind that a person writes down the feelings they keep inside, allowing them to move forward in realizing those thoughts that led them to buy this book.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself.