What is your main goal in life? Is it to travel the world? To get a master’s degree or to save a life? Well, my main goal in life is to be happy. I know; it sounds easier said than done. It sounds cliché. But at the end of the day, when I throw up my hair, put on my PJs, and lay in bed, I just want to be happy.
Sure, you can’t be happy all the time. You go through everyday struggles, you lose a family member, or life just sucks. That happens. Life happens. You can’t be happy every second of every day. But you can be happy; overall really happy with your life. And to me, that’s the most important thing in life.
I’ve gone through a lot of times in my life where I haven’t been happy. I’ve hated life. I thought there was no point to anything. I watched too many young people (and old people that I just wasn’t ready to lose) die. I put a big middle finger up to the world, because I just wasn’t happy with what it was giving back to me.
I’ve also gone through those teen-angst years where I only wanted to paint my nails black and listen to music that you listen to in the dark of your own room, when you won’t talk to your parents or your friends. I’ve gone through it all. Every unhappy phase. But then I grew up, and I realized that that’s just a bunch of bullsh*t.
Being unhappy is not worth it.
I’ve come across a lot of people who are unhappy with their lives. Friends, family members, peers, and so on. I’ve known people that have stayed in unhappy relationships, because of what they once had, or what they think they could have, if their significant other would just stop doing that one upsetting thing. I’ve known people that have stayed working in a job that they hate, which makes them miserable every morning that they wake up. At that point, they can’t wait to be done with the day.
You know what I say? I say change something. If you’re not happy, change it. If you wish your boyfriend or girlfriend would stop nagging you, if you wish they would stop telling you what to do, or you’re just bored and not happy anymore: Change it.
If you and your friend can’t stop fighting and they talk behind your back and you’re not happy: Change it. If your job sucks and you hate your boss and your coworkers and you hate waking up every day: Change it.
There is no excuse for staying in an unpleasant situation, just because it’s comfortable, easy, or because you don’t want things to be different. If there’s something you can change to be happier, you need to do that. You deserve to be the happiest you can be.
At 20 years old (almost 21 woohoo), I just think we are -- well, I am -- way too young to not be happy. I’m way too young to settle. I’m way too young to not go for my dreams: to not apply for an internship, to not travel to where I want to travel.
Life is way too short to be anything but happy. So be happy. Don’t settle for being anything less.
