"Happiness is a choice." -- Shay Carl Butler

The road to happiness is not an easy one.

There is so much in life to be upset about. The media is always showing us tragedies and crises that will leave us with no hope for the world. Its so easy to be negative and choose to let things bother you.

My personal journey to choose happiness has come since I realized what the negativity was doing to me. It was changing me into a person that I didn't want to be and I realized something had to change. I needed to change my whole mentality towards positivity and happiness. I realized that I was making choices just to please people and not focusing on what I wanted to do. Happiness is definitely a choice. It is a choice that you have to make every single day. There will be days when it is a struggle but it is the best choice you could ever make for yourself. I realized that I was letting other people dictate my happiness and what I should do with my life. That's not what I wanted at all. I realized that I was making choices just to please people and not focusing on what I wanted to do. Those choices that I was allowing for people to make for me were making me miserable. I was so worried about letting people down. Someone once told me that the people who are meant to be in my life will respect every decision I make. They might not agree, but they will respect the fact that I made it for my own best interest. No person should ever have the power dictate how someone else should live their life and how they want to be happy. That's a lesson that society has lost and desperately needs to teach the next generation. The media seems to really focus on negativity most of the time. If the media were to show some of the good in the world, it might not be such a scary place to live in. Changing someone's perspective to inspire them to pursue happiness is a truly great achievement.

By choosing happiness, I really began to appreciate the little things in life. For example, I began to appreciate the sunshine because it made me feel better. Choosing happiness allows for the mind to be at ease and allows you to have clearer thinking. I smile more now and have more spring in my step.

Life is a lot more fun when you are happy.

Now, I know what you are thinking, "How can you be happy all the time?"

The answer is that you can't be happy all of the time, but being happy most of the time is better than not at all.

I think that if everyone is just a little bit happier, this world wouldn't be so bad after all.

Remember, "Happiness is a choice!"

A choice that you will never regret.