Choosing Happiness

Hi Friends,

Today I wanted to talk about something that I have really struggled with the past few years. I think a big problem in our society is that being happy and optimistic is almost frowned upon. If someone is happy all the time or tries to always see the good side of things then as a society we assume they are naive and almost weak.

For most of life, or at least what I can remember, I have always tried to be as happy of a person as I could be. However, from the ages of about 15-17 which may be a short time but it was the most recent part of my life and felt like a terribly long time, I felt like I could no longer show people this happiness all the time or I would not be taken seriously or respected. So I forced myself to become almost cynical because sadly I felt that was what you are supposed to do when you get older. I thought that for me to become an adult and to grow up I needed to become realistic (you can read my post about that word here) and practically negative. However, I was so completely wrong about this idea. Maybe I am the only person who ever felt this way but maybe one person who reads this felt this way as well and they need to know that that particular mindset is not true at all.

I spent that time very unhappy and almost angry. I spent two years feeling this way for absolutely no reason except I felt pressure that I needed to act a certain way so that I could fit in with society. Well if I have learned anything from the past couple of years, it would be that trying to fit in rarely makes you happy, but that is a different rant for a different time. However, I recently really realized that it is okay for me to be as optimistic as I want to be. I am not being stupid or naive because I try to trust people as much as I can, or because I give people multiple chances, or because I would rather by nice to someone even if they are mean to me. 

This world needs more optimism and more positive people. The phrase, "a smile is contagious" may be cheesy but I think it is 100% true. Being kind and spreading joy I believe is always the better option. It does not in any way mean you are not a strong person if you are super nice to people. Actually I think it makes you a stronger person. It is easy to be mean and negative towards others, however, to be kind and loving to people even if they have hurt you in some way shows a certain level of maturity that I think is rare among many young people and even several older people as well. 

So the point of this post is...be happy, be kind, spread love and joy, and don't let someone convince you that you are weak for it because you are quite the opposite. You are strong and beautiful and trust me when I say this, life will becomes 100 times more enjoyable when you start choosing happiness and optimism over sadness and negativity. Happiness is choice and some days it is the hardest choice you will make but trust me it is worth it. 

Until Next Time,

Morgan