Lately, I have realized that if you ask people what they want out of life, most of the time their answers will be either love, money, or to be happy. I am going to be honest, I have said all I want is to be happy so many times. It's a natural response. Everyone wants to be happy- no one wants to be sad or depressed. However, something I have noticed is that happiness is fleeting. You can chase it all you want but at the end of the day, it goes just as quickly as it comes.

Happiness is a feeling typically dependent on outside events. Hence why I think people say they want to be happy because their version of happy gives them every outcome they want in their lives (money, love, how they want to look, etc). This is why most people can never truly find happiness and be content. When they don't find the happiness they have been yearning for, they try quick-fixes for happiness which can ultimately lead to depression. (Now to be clear I am not saying if you just choose joy you will not be depressed, it takes a while to be able to choose and feel joy.)

This is why as I go into a new year at school I am going to change my mindset to one of joy. I will make an effort to choose to have joy every moment from now on. Joy is different than happiness. Joy is an internal feeling. it comes from deep within you. My joy comes from having peace within myself, my surroundings, and even my relationships. Even deeper than that my joy comes from my savior, Jesus Christ. My identity is in him and he gives me the joy I need when I do not want to be joyful.

Joy is also consistent. When I say this, I truly mean it's consistent in everything you do. Joy is there in happiness but it is also the hope in the dark. Joy shows up when everything around you is falling apart and it gives you the hope for the light at the end of the tunnel. The way I see it for myself, I can choose to hope for happiness and be miserable in the sorrows when it doesn't come, or I can choose to have joy even when things are not going the way I thought they would.

In a world chasing happiness, I choose to have joy in everything I do.