Happiness: The Precursor to a Truly Abundant and Balanced Life

By Eunice Atuejide

I was broke.

Not the kind of broke where you check your account and wince. The kind where you genuinely do not know how you will feed your children tomorrow.

I had gone from running a political party, standing for President of Nigeria, managing international business ventures — to sitting in a small flat wondering how I had fallen so far.

And here is the thing that still surprises people when I tell this story:

I was happy.

Not pretending. Not forcing positivity. Genuinely, deeply happy. I woke up grateful. I laughed with my kids. I danced in my kitchen. I wrote in my journal about the life I was building, even when the evidence around me suggested I was delusional.

That happiness — that stubborn, unreasonable joy — became the foundation for everything that came after.

We Have It Backwards

Most people believe the formula works like this: Work hard → Achieve success → Then you can be happy.

They spend their lives chasing promotions, accumulating wealth, building empires — all in pursuit of some future moment when they will finally feel at peace.

But that moment never comes.

Because the formula is backwards.

Happiness is not the reward. Happiness is the requirement.

When you choose happiness first — before the evidence, before the breakthrough, before the bank account agrees with you — you shift your entire energetic frequency. You move from scarcity to abundance. From striving to flow. From forcing to attracting.

This is not woo-woo. This is physics.

What I Learned at the Bottom

When I lost everything financially, I gained something far more valuable: clarity. I discovered that my happiness had never actually depended on my circumstances. It had always been a choice. A practice. A discipline.

Growing up in Lagos, I watched my parents queue for food vouchers. I juggled school, church, sports, and half a dozen side hustles just to survive. I learned early that if I waited for perfect conditions to feel joy, I would wait forever. So I stopped waiting.

I wore my £20 outfit with the same confidence as the £30,000 one because contentment was never about the price tag. I released attachment to outcomes because my vibration could not depend on things I could not control. I chose to create my joy daily because depending on others or external circumstances for happiness is a recipe for misery.

And something remarkable happened.

The more I embodied happiness, the more abundance flowed toward me. Not because I was chasing it. But because I had become magnetic to it.

Happiness Creates the Container for Abundance

Think of happiness as the soil.

You can plant seeds of ambition, strategy, and hard work — but if the soil is toxic, nothing sustainable will grow. You might force a harvest through sheer will, but you will exhaust yourself in the process.

When you cultivate happiness first, you create fertile ground for everything else: wealth, relationships, purpose, peace.

Happiness makes you lighter — so you can release stress, fear, and the weight of constant striving.

Happiness makes you clearer — so you can see opportunities instead of obstacles.

Happiness makes you magnetic — so you attract people, resources, and possibilities that match your elevated state.

Abundance is not something you chase. It is something you align with. And alignment begins with choosing joy.

The Lie of "I'll Be Happy When..."

I have worked with and coached hundreds of high achievers who have everything society says should make them happy — and they feel empty. They keep moving the goalpost. When I make my first million. When I get the promotion. When I find the right partner. When the kids are older. When the business stabilises. But "when" never arrives. Because the moment you reach one milestone, your mind creates another.

This is the trap: tying your happiness to outcomes you cannot fully control.

The truth? The happiest people I know are not the ones who have everything. They are the ones who have learned to feel complete with what they have — while still reaching for more.

They hold their ambitions loosely. They celebrate the journey, not just the destination. They understand that happiness is not a future event. It is a present-moment choice.

Balance Flows from Happiness

When you are happy, something shifts in how you manage your life. You stop over-giving from an empty cup. You set boundaries without guilt. You rest without feeling lazy. You work without burning out. Balance is not a time management problem. It is an inner state problem.

When you are miserable, you will never have enough time, energy, or resources, no matter how much you optimise your calendar. But when you are genuinely happy, you naturally prioritise what matters. You stop saying yes to things that drain you. You protect your peace like the precious resource it is.

I learned this as a child, dividing my days into segments; school, work, church, sports, family, hustle etc., because I had to. That discipline followed me into adulthood. But the discipline only worked because I approached each segment with presence and joy, not resentment and exhaustion. Balance is happiness in action.

How to Choose Happiness Now

This is not about toxic positivity. I am not telling you to pretend life is perfect when it is hard.

I am telling you that even in difficulty, you have a choice about how you meet this moment.

1. Start your day in gratitude. Before you check your phone, name three specific things you are grateful for. Not generically. Specifically. Train your brain to scan for good.

2. Detach from outcomes. Do the work. Give your best. Then release your grip on how it turns out. Your peace cannot depend on things outside your control.

3. Move your body. Happiness lives in the body, not just the mind. Dance. Walk. Stretch. Shake off the heaviness.

4. Guard your environment. You cannot cultivate abundance while surrounded by scarcity-minded people and conversations. Curate your inputs ruthlessly.

5. Celebrate before the evidence. Feel grateful for what is coming, not just what has arrived. This is how you shift from chasing to attracting.

The Radical Truth

Happiness is free!!!

It does not require a certain income, relationship status, or career level. It does not require permission from anyone. It does not require perfect circumstances. Happiness is a choice available to you right now — in this breath, in this moment, regardless of what is happening around you.

And when you make that choice consistently, something miraculous unfolds. Abundance stops being something you hunt and becomes something that finds you. Balance stops being something you struggle toward and becomes your natural state. You stop striving and start thriving. Not because you have achieved everything. But because you have realised you already have everything you need to feel whole.

Choose happiness today.

Not because life is perfect. But because happiness is free — and it is the foundation upon which every other blessing is built.

Rise above. Live free. And watch abundance flow.

Eunice Atuejide is a multi-jurisdictional lawyer, transformational coach, and author of Happiness Is Free!!! She helps high-performing professionals break through burnout and create balanced, purpose-aligned lives.

Ready to unlock the abundant life you deserve? Grab your copy of Happiness Is Free!!! on Amazon or book a clarity call at https://calendly.com/eunice_atuejide/vip-private-chat

Rise Above. Live Free. Levitate.