You've always been known as the happy person. The person always smiling, always finding the positive in a negative situation, always bouncing around with your bubbly, energetic personality. People always comment on how joyous you are, and it makes you happy to see your joy rubbing off on others. It genuinely brings you joy to help others, and more often than not, you'll drop everything you're doing to help someone else. You're quick to forgive. It doesn't matter how many times a friend betrayed you, or how badly an ex hurt you. You forgive because you cannot physically stand the feeling of conflict and dislike in your heart. It's who you are. You're happy.

But are you really?

At some point, you start to not be genuinely happy anymore. You don't even notice. People tell you, "you're such a happy person!" and you give a laugh responded by your usual chirpy response, ending with a bright smile. But it feels off, like a lie. Your heart doesn't have the same beat, your brain isn't as optimistic. You have to work harder at being "you."

Because that's the bad thing about being the happy person. People assume you're okay. And if you visibly aren't OK, they expect you'll get over it in a second. It isn't their fault they expect this. That's just who you are, right? But you aren't.

You're losing your motivation. The things and people that used to bring you so much joy now just annoy you in large dosages. You stop going out as much. You spend days at a time in your room. If family or friends call or text, you tell them you're at work, doing homework, or babysitting. You somehow find a way to avoid their calls, and you overuse the smiley face emoji in every single text. You can't tell them the truth because the truth is you don't even know what the truth is. What are you supposed to say?

You're trying so hard to be the "happy you," before anyone notices, but you just fall even deeper. You keep telling yourself, "OK, just one more day, then you're going to go back to being you." When you do talk yourself out of your room, you just aren't the same. Your friends notice your lack of energy, increased silence, and irritability. You can't drink socially anymore because you end up crying and upset. The more people notice the more you hide away. You don't want to be seen as anything but "happy you." But that just makes it worse. You stop sleeping. You cry at random times. You don't leave your bed until late afternoon. You quit eating. Yet still, if anyone calls or texts, you're not home. You're out doing "happy person" things.

Your boss starts noticing how many days you've missed. Your professors are alerting you of missed assignments and low attendance. This makes you hide away even more.

Your friends know something is wrong. They tell you, "it'll be OK," and all the things good friends can say. What they don't know is while their words may have effect at that moment, when you wake up, what they said last night won't matter anymore. They don't know how far gone you really are. They don't know you've actually been struggling in silence for months and putting on a happy face in front of them. They just think you're going through a bad period, but you'll get over it, because that's what you are: happy.

But you aren't happy.

And nobody seems to realize you have other emotions but happy. You struggle in silence and keep your mouth shut.

But you shouldn't have to.

Believe it or not, you are more than just "happy you"; you are human. And it's actually OK to let the world see more of you than your happy side. You can still help people, motivate and inspire others, and live an optimistic life while also letting people see the real you. That includes the days you're feeling sarcastic and moody, because everybody has those days. It's OK to tell people that they upset or hurt you and you need time to heal: Because newsflash, you aren't a robot. And most importantly, it's OK to ask for help. Because sometimes you need to be asked if you're OK, too.

You'll be surprised at how accepting the world can be of the real you. You all of a sudden find a huge support group that was there the whole time if you had just asked. You find a sense of relief in knowing you can have an off day and people actually won't hate you for it.

Soon you'll be happy. Genuinely happy. The kind of happy that can only be found by getting to know yourself and learning how to be the real you, imperfections and all.