On Happiness

I grew up in an environment that taught me a lot. I’m going to try to not get into too much detail here for the sake of the privacy of others, but I was around a lot of people that were deeply unhappy and maybe even clinically depressed. I went through a pretty rough patch myself – who doesn't? But one day, someone said something to me that really shook me. He told me, “I don’t believe in depression as a disease. I believe in depression as a choice.”

At first, I thought nothing of it. I thought that it was a silly thing to say, because, really, who would choose to be depressed? Of course depression is a real issue. But, after some thought, I realized that while he may not be entirely right about depression being a choice, there is some truth to what he said. While depression is not a choice, happiness is.

As I mentioned, I grew up surrounded by very unhappy people, and as a result, I ended up a pretty unhappy person, too. After this epiphany, though, it was like waking up from a bad dream. Instead of dwelling on all these things that made me so unhappy, I took note of the good things. I wrote more. I surrounded myself with things and people that I knew would make me happy, and now I’m a much happier person because of it.

I know, things can get really hard sometimes, and I’m not trying to say that I never feel sad; I’m human, I still experience emotions. What I am trying to say is that things always get better, and there is always something to look forward to.

“Everything is okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.” – John Lennon.

So chin up, buttercup – there’s so much to smile about!