For the longest time, I’ve heard that happiness is a choice. I’ve mostly heard this when my parents or my friends were sick of me feeling sorry for myself. Why couldn’t I just be upset and feel bad for me; sometimes life sucks. Throughout high school, it took me a very long time to get over things, things that are SO not a big deal. Things like not being invited somewhere, failing a road test, a boy not liking you back. This is where the 5 by 5 rule comesinto play.

If it’s not going to matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes upset by it.

This is something I have learned to implement in my everyday life. If we wanted to we could find something bad in every single day. As soon as something happens that I know is going to upset me like getting a bad grade or if someone simply said something that hurt my feelings, I think how this won’t matter in five years. Why am I spending 30 minutes sulking about it? Eventually, I learned to stop feeling sorry for myself.

I could compare myself to people for hours, for days, probably forever. This person is good at this, and this person is good at this, blah, blah, blah. When you’re constantly focusing on what everyone else is good at, it’s almost impossible to really notice what YOU are good at and truly appreciate whatever it is.

We all wish we could be good at different things, and in reality, if we want it that badly we can become that good. It’s never too late. You can make the decision today to start learning a new language, how to play an instrument, a sport, an art.

As cheesy as it is, every morning gives you a new chance. YOU get to choose, you get to choose to sit in bed and be upset, or get up and do something you’ve never done before, or explore your passions. Take the people that you compare yourself too or are jealous of and make them your inspiration.

There are people to inspire us everywhere we look. My mom who treats every day like it’s her last, people that could be my second parents who never fail to surprise me with their new inspirations, my friends who work so hard everyday to get to where they want to be. We can do it all, we just have to make the choice to take the first step and then run with it.

~Written with love and appreciation for our ability to reach for whatever we want in life ~