Back in early April of this year, I was focused on school, ready to take on finals week, and feeling pretty good about what I had accomplished over the course of my junior year of college. However, in the midst of studying, writing papers, and throwing some half-ass presentations together, I had somehow forgotten that I would be responsible for paying a hefty rent check in the upcoming months. Again, it was April, and I still had yet to line up a summer job or internship that would allow me to take in some income.

After some much needed nagging from my mom to get my act together, I soon began to scramble in search of an internship that would somewhat align with my major. After many rejections and multiple employers informing me that their application deadlines for internships were due months ago, I finally landed an internship with Augsburg College’s Sabo Center for Citizenship and Democracy. I was assigned a coordinating position for the West Side Youth Guides summer program where, along with my supervisor I would help teach middle school students leadership skills by creating lesson plans that taught students how to be leaders in their school and surrounding community, volunteering at nonprofit organizations in West Side Saint Paul with my students and assisting the middle school students in planning their own community service project.

I walked into this internship ready to change lives and make a difference in the world by showing middle school students what they’re capable of. Turns out those rumors about how difficult it can be to work with middle school students are true. Most of the time. Some days are better than others, but truth be told, there have been many nights where I have called my mom close to tears because I have felt as though I’m incapable of making connections with these kids.

Over the course of the program, things have progressed and last week as I planned the following week’s curriculum, which was focused on having a positive attitude, I wondered if I was even qualified to speak on this subject.

I have been known to be somewhat cynical, playing the devil’s advocate in many situations, and some have compared me to Squidward Tentacles (for all you Spongebob fans). I even went through a phase my freshman year of college where I told people, “If you’re happy, you’re not looking hard enough.” Far too often I would look at people who seemed to always be able to find the bright side of things and think, “wow, how naïve.”

That phase led me to a time where I questioned my faith, my purpose in life and basically anything that didn’t come with an easy, straightforward answer. It led me to spending nine days in a treatment center for my eating disorder, where when I left and returned to the “real world” I was prescribed a very necessary anti-depressant.

Now, I wasn’t able to just pop a Prozac and see all the good in the world, but with the help of others I was able to see (over a long period of time) that the bright side isn’t a bad place after all.

Those people include:

The guy who’s battling a drug addiction and is still able to brighten everyone’s day with his endless positivity, which never seems to falter regardless of what he’s going through personally.

The woman whose husband has been given three months to live, and yet is still able to feel “lucky” that she has time to say goodbye to the love of her life.

Or the young black boy who instead of despising all police officers is determined to become a police officer himself and help change the way our legal system is run.

These people—who I’ve been lucky enough to have in my life—have been able to come to the realization that having a negative mindset about the hardships we face doesn’t solve anything. In fact, it tends to make matters worse, which I’ve found out the hard way.

Many people who read this may think that I’m being simple-minded considering all that’s been going on in our country and around the world lately. And don’t get me wrong, I’m the last person that will attest that all problems can be solved with some happy thoughts, however, those happy thoughts go much farther than the negativity that will leave you alone, unhappy, filled with loads of doubt and helplessness.

With that being said, as our nation continues to run into countless cases of turmoil, and we face our own personal grievances, I challenge all of us (myself included) to count our blessings while still remaining realistic and in touch with what’s going on around us. Let’s take a walk on the bright side—I’ve heard it’s not such a bad place after all.