Every day is a new day to start fresh. Last night, wasn’t your best night? Alrighty, let’s move on. This whole week hasn’t been your week? Okay, we can fix that. Maybe last year wasn’t your best year, but you have new days, new hours, new seconds to be uncontrollably happy and change your life around. “Stop waiting for Friday, for summer, for someone to fall in love with you, for life. Happiness is achieved when you stop waiting for it and make the most of the moment you are in now.” Happiness comes in all shapes and sizes. Your dog could be the reason for that gracious bend in your lips. Maybe pizza for breakfast is the reason for your cheeks hurting. For me, happiness is in the eye of the beholder.
Some might argue that happiness is no batch of cookies that you can store in a container and pull out whenever you need a dose. I would have to disagree. Pictures are life’s cookies. You can pull them out whenever you need a good dose of straight up, raw happiness. Remember that time Aunt Betsy spilled coffee all over that random stranger? They ended up going on a date and are now married with 10 kids. Remember that? Yeah, no me either. I don’t even have an aunt Betsy, but I sure think a picture of that could give me an ounce of happiness for a little while. The pictures that bring me happiness are the ones that truly show my imperfectly beautiful life.
August 2015. 081415. Code for the day that started my college career. It was the day I peed my pants and worried my way to this crazy new life. I thought change was going to be a great thing for me. like every new college kid I couldn’t wait to not have to abide by every single rule my parents had. I had grown up in a strict household and i was ready for my time to shine...on my own, by myself, 2 hours away from my parents. And this is where I start losing my breathe and rethinking how great freedom is over the comfort of parental control. I was all by myself in a brand new place. I had to decide if I would be serving ice cream or cookies for dinner. It was scary. I started losing my happiness. My brain made a pact with the devil and swore off any positive thoughts for a while. I didn’t think this brand new structure I had made for myself was going to last any longer. I was doomed to failure, or so I thought.
The ring of the phone caught my attention. It was a friend from back home. Finally some normality I thought. In a nutshell our phone call was about how life was going & how great partying was for my friend. Nevertheless, a few words managed to seep into my brain and get pinned right onto my forehead. I couldn’t seem to shake them from my thoughts. “What if you were meant to find your happiness in the unhappiest of places. You’ll learn that no matter where you go you can always find happiness.” Well shoot I think she was onto something.
From then on I learned that my happiness derived from myself. Every morning I have a choice to make-- happiness or unhappiness. No matter what life throws at me it should never diminish my happiness. The “failures” that I lug around during my day shouldn’t be left as failures at the end of the day. I have the power to change the bad to the good. It might have taken me a bit longer than 24 hours to grasp this concept. It was all worth it when the puzzle pieces finally came together. Some days I lose a few of the puzzle pieces, but I always seem to find them under a couch or bed and put them back right where they belong.
This world was made for you to make mistakes. Mistakes shouldn’t be left as mistakes, though. They should be made into memories, experiences, and learning opportunities. So pick up your pencil and erase the word “mistake” and replace it with the word “lesson.”
You’ll want to sprinkle everyone with even just an ounce of the happiness you feel within you. It’s almost as if it’s raining, but the raindrops have a sense of innocence. A sense of complete happiness. Imagine getting drowned in an unlimited amount of happiness. It sounds like heaven. So why are so many people afraid to allow themselves to feel this good? It can only be taken away if you allow your happiness to be in someone else's hands. If you learn how to make yourself happy no one can ever take it away from you because they are not the owner of everything amazing.
Hold on five seconds, wait until next week, I’ll do it when the new year hits. No now. Now is your time. Now is your time to shine. Two seconds from now won’t make you any stronger. Now is a great time to start feeling alive. Get on that plane to New York. Kiss the love of your life. Tell your best friend you’re in love with him. Let it all go. Throw down your worries and let your happiness peek out from every corner of yourself. The best feeling is letting yourself get lost in so much happiness. You get to choose. You have the right to put away your sorrows, regrets, and sadness.
Too many people don’t know how to live, dream, and go for it. Passion is overridden by people’s visions of stacks of dollars. The world needs more dreamers. A little push in the right direction can go a long way. Start by changing that pop tart for oatmeal or bananas. Your dream to be fit shouldn’t have to wait till the clock strikes 12. You don’t have to stay unhappy. Someone once told me that maybe I was put in a situation to teach myself how to be happy in the unhappiest of places. I have been able to achieve happiness by a change of attitude. It takes time and patience, but it’s worth it in the end.
