Up until recently I have always associated the adjectives 'happy' and 'positive' as being the same thing. I thought that usually, a 'happy' person had an overall positive mindset, and I thought that an overall 'positive' person was happy. It wasn't until recently that I discovered the two are not the same at all.

You see, a 'happy' person can be somebody who is happy in the current situation that they are in. No matter if it's because they are just having a good day, or somebody in front of them in the drive-thru line bought their coffee this morning, or even because they just got a promotion at work. I realized that a 'happy' person is temporary.

A 'positive' person is somebody who tries to see the light in every situation. They see the light at times when they are drowning in homework, or when they are going through hardships in a relationship, or even when everything in their life seems to be taking a completely different turn. A 'positive' person knows that not everything in life will be happy and that is okay.

A 'happy' person is temporary for the sole purpose that they are only happy when things are benefitting them. These are the people that if things seem to be going bad then they are the very first ones to complain about how much they are currently hating life, or the first person to knit-pick something that somebody else is doing. A 'positive' person doesn't act this way because they understand that there will always be obstacles but it is a matter of how you seem them to determine how you will react to them. They take every problem with a grain of salt and don't make it any bigger of a problem, so they don't stress themselves or anybody else out.

Positive is defined as: good, looking towards the good side of things. Happiness is defined as the state of being happy. Most people commonly think that just because someone is 'happy' all the time that they are an overall positive person too, and this is not the case. Now I am not saying that all people who are happy aren't positive people, or that all people who are positive are not happy, because some people are, but I have just noticed the common misconception of people associating the two together when in fact they are completely different from one another.

It is possible to be both happy and positive, but you have to have the mindset that you will not just be happy when you find it easy to be. You have to be happy through all the rough trials, too. There are so many things to be happy about, and those are not just when you buy a new outfit you've been wanting, or you get a new car, or even just when you get anything new in general, or when things seem to be in your favor. In society today, we find it so easy to be unsatisfied with everything we have and we find ourselves constantly 'needing' more. When in reality, we should be content with what we have and realize that 'happiness' is just a state of when things seem to be going our way. 'Positivity' is when we are appreciative and always looking towards the better of the situation even at what seems to be our lowest points in life.

I think it's safe to say that yes, we should all strive to be genuinely happy, but overall we should strive to be positive people.