I was scrolling through Pinterest (for a little too long) and I saw the quote,

"There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy."

(looking back, I have pinned this twice in different typography. I'm not mad about it.)

This just made me think for a while.

I recently have been in a little bit of a funk. I don't know if it's just a lot of stuff going on at school academically or just in my personal life or in my head, but I haven't felt completely like myself. Whenever I feel bad for myself, which I don't try to do or feel a lot, I always think that someone in the world has it worse than I do. I really do have so many beautiful reasons to be happy. I think everyone does. I don't usually like to get mushy or be too open about my emotions, but I guess I'm feeling a little wild tonight. Okay, I couldn't get through that without adding something a little goofy.

I grew up not needing to worry about a lot. My parents and family in general took care of my brother and I no matter what. If there was a struggle, we didn't know. I know some people that didn't get to live like that. I always had a room to myself and could do whatever I was interested in. If I wanted to become a fire-eating woman with three heads, I could. I never needed to worry about where dinner was going to come from that night. I didn't need to worry about not having clothes that didn't fit or not enough lunch money. I'm so grateful for these things.

I have never felt alone. I have a semi-large family, there are some a lot smaller and some a lot bigger. I've had the same group of friends forever basically. I have always had people in my life that will listen to me and care about me. These people are some that I couldn't imagine life without. Some people are newer in my life and some have been there from actually day one. I got lucky when I went to college, I guess. I found my main group of friends within the first week or two. I'm so thankful that I met them. If I didn't, I definitely wouldn't be as happy as I am now.

I get to do what I love. I'm going to school for elementary education. Some people may frown upon this. "Teachers don't make a lot of money." "You want to spend the rest of your life with screaming kids?" Yes. I love working with children. Working at a summer camp makes me so happy. Working at an elementary school while I'm away at school makes me so happy. Seeing children's expressions when they understand something or make a discovery or are just having fun and laughing makes me so happy.

Lastly, I have the freedom to do whatever it is that makes me happy. I can spend all of my money at Target. I can go to Asia for the rest of my life. I can lay in bed for a weekend and ignore everything I'm supposed to do, which will just make me more stressed in the end. I can go to Vegas, spend all of my money in the slot machines and come back with nothing. I can just be happy. This is so important to me.

I don't want this to seem like I'm bragging in any way. I just want to share my reflection of myself. I hope that this makes you think of all of the good and beautiful things in your life. It only takes a minute to have all of these things to come to you.