I have a good life. A great life, really. I have everything I could possibly ask for, and I try my best to show gratitude for everything that I have. Sometimes, I do better at being grateful and happy with my life, while other times I have a harder time with it. Sometimes I forget to appreciate everything and when I do that, I find that I'm not so happy in life. So I decided to try something out to try and appreciate life more.

I try living my life with a positive attitude, an optimistic perspective and the belief that everything will turn out okay. Even when I'm a little sadder in life, I think I still maintain the ability to think that way. However, I recently realized that I only use that thinking for bigger, more prominent events in my life and that I should also try to appreciate the little things in life more. So I decided to do just that. I tried to find happiness in the little things in life every day for a while to see how it would affect me instead of plainly living without thinking about the environment around me.

I wasn't too great about it when I first started.

I would start my day with trying to pay attention and appreciating everything I saw around me, but by lunch, I had usually forgotten what I was doing and just continued with my life as I always did. I kept reminding myself to try and find happiness in the little things, and a lot of the times, I did.

I was usually the most happy in the mornings after I first woke up. One of my favorite things is just waking up on my own before my alarms and just spending time in bed. I thought about how lucky I was to experience laying on a soft bed with my comfy blankets draped over me and the fan slowly spinning above. To see the soft sunlight filter in through the windows and being cast across the sheets on my bed. To see my cat stretched across the bad at my feet, basking in the sunlight, sound asleep.

I realized that I started spending more time just laying in bed and thinking about how grateful I was for everything instead of immediately going on my phone like I usually did. I started to find beauty in the way the trees outside my window swayed as the wind blew, the sound of rain on the roof or the sound of a couple taking a walk and chatting in front of my house.

This really seemed to be helpful when I was having a hard time.

A few days ago, my family and I were visiting New York City, and weren't having the best time as everything seemed to be going wrong. Everyone seemed to be in a terrible mood and really aggravated, but I realized that using that method really helped me stay calm. I loved watching other people being happy, making jokes with their friends or family while excitedly heading towards their next attraction. I loved seeing the billboards light up all around me and see the awe on children's faces and they watched the flashing signs. I loved the feeling that the bustling city gave off, because although it was chaotic, I found the fact that so many people from all over the world were here was so beautiful.

I've realized that I get angry and annoyed very easily, but more importantly, I shouldn't. It does me no good, and by trying to find something to be happy about in every little thing, I've learned that there's always an alternative to being angry and bitter. Life is too short to hold grudges and not appreciate every moment, so I've started to realize that that's what I should do. I hope that I can continue to be happy with even the smallest things in life and that others learn from this and try it, too.