Life Isn’t Perfect, Always Be Grateful

And Always Be Kind...

When people say they live a happy life, do they really? Do you think every moment in their day is made up of absolute joy? I doubt it. It would be a lovely fairytale, wouldn’t it? No one is happy all the time. If they say they are, they are lying. Life is a roller coaster of ups and downs and we are just here for the ride. But I do believe happiness is a state of mind we can attain if we look at our lives a certain way. 

I’ve been doing a lot of pondering about what I think it means to be happy. I feel it’s an attitude we can all strive for, but I believe it’s really a compilation of all the little moments we have throughout our hardships, our losses and our frustrations in our daily lives. Happiness is the little bits of light that keep us going when it’s dark. It’s not just the feeling we have when we have a good day. It’s the gratitude we have for the moments that made that day great. 

I also believe happiness is the feeling we have when we are kind to others. It’s so important to show people kindness; not just because your parents taught you to, but because it’s part of being a human being. You don’t know what’s going on in someones world. The person who just cut you off could have been fired that day. The person who was rude in line at the grocery store could have a very sick parent or child at home. The person who you buy coffee from every morning who never smiles could be struggling to make ends meet. You just don’t know, and you never will. No one knows what people around us carry with them daily, what struggles they have, with their family, their friends, their jobs, their money or their health. People can sometimes put on a good front but the old saying that “no one knows what goes on behind closed doors” is so true. 

Being happy is being grateful for all you have and realizing that you can’t have good without bad or light without dark. We can’t control and micro manage everything around us but we can enjoy the moments of happiness when they are here and be strong for ourselves and others when they seem so far away. We can choose to be kind to people all the time, even when we are in a bad mood because life is too short to be nasty. It’s wasted energy. So my conclusion is smile, pay it forward, be human, be grateful, enjoy the little things and it will lead you in the end, to happiness.