There is an old saying that goes "Happiness is a choice."

Now, before I say my opinion on this statement, I will say: sometimes things happen. We lose people due to death or life or other circumstances. We lose pets, we fail a test, we get fired, our hearts get broken, we become depressed, we have an anxiety disorder, we can never get along with our mothers, our parents are getting a divorce, and a million other things that happen on a daily basis to a percentage of the billions of people on this Earth. Yes, all of those awful things happen. Yes, a lot of the time there is nothing we can do about these types of situations.

However, I still truly believe happiness is a choice.

I've had many people very rudely express to me that I was the type of person who didn't understand struggles because I was lucky and I didn't know "suffering." While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I will say that is a false statement.

I'm not going to sit here and write a sob story for you. I won't outline my struggles in an attempt to gain attention. However, I will say to you I have struggled. I have suffered. I have been beaten down, ridiculed, ostracized, and even broken. Everyone has their shit. I've had mine. It's what you choose to do with the cards you've been dealt, it's how you choose to react to the situations in your life that matter.

I make the very difficult decision every morning to choose happiness. I get out of bed, thankful for another day, squash my never-ending anxiety and choose to be happy with what I have been given. I am blessed. I am lucky. However, no one's life is perfect. I could very much choose to bask only in the ugliness and hatred and evil that resides in my life. Or I could choose to embrace the goodness and love and beauty that is in every crevice, every corner, every aspect of my life if only I am willing to look hard enough. I choose to look.

Not every day will be a good one. There are days when I hate how I look or act or the clothes I'm wearing. There are mental breakdowns and tears and upset and heartache and lots of ice cream ingested. That's normal. It's okay to be knocked off balance for a little. What matters is how well you pick yourself up after falling, friends.

I've recently read the book called "Me Before You" (it is becoming a movie and I highly recommend the book, it's fantastic!) and one of my favorite quotes from the book is, "You only get one life, it's actually your duty to live it as fully as possible."

I don't know what my life will bring. I know what I want. I want to travel the world and write books and fall in love with different places and people. I want to skydive and bungee jump and rock climb and scuba dive. I don't know if any of these things will happen. I don't know what will happen to me. A multitude of awful things could happen to me before I ever fulfill my dreams.

But I learned that life is too short to be sad. You can't change people or their decisions, the bad things that happen to you or the cards you were dealt, but you can control your reactions. You can control how you choose to respond to a situation. Remember that.

I don't know what my future brings. Either way, I will know that I lived each day of my life while choosing to be happy. I hope you all can do the same.