Happiness...is it all it's cracked up to be?

Is there ever a good enough reason to compromise your happiness?

Being that it is a few days after my 24th birthday, earlier I stopped and reflected all that I’ve been through. Living in 5 different countries, attending various elementary schools, minor injuries and major mosquito bites, a bee sting, butting heads with two conservative parents, sharing secrets with a free spirited sister, five learning experiences called relationships, remaining television free on weekdays until the age of 18, a stint at Penn State then taking three years off, sporadically living in New York then moving down to the A where it seems like I have started all over again. And after all that reminiscing I’ve realized that I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.

Regardless of how much money I don’t have, how many people don’t approve and where I’m supposed to be in life, I no longer let any of that affect my contentment. I know there are books on how to obtain it and society has made us believe that it is such a hard notion to acquire but in all actuality, it’s not that hard.

Okay, maybe I’m biased because I’m the happy person. But I realized in my past experiences that my happiness really depends on me, but because I believed it was on someone or something else it was compromised. At the end of the day, there’s never a good enough to compromise your happiness. If you love to dance, someway somehow you should be dancing everyday. If you love to sing, the shower should be your stage and people should be telling you to stop singing so much on a daily basis. I love to write so I will make sure I write a little something everyday (well at least 5 days out of the week) whether it’s a blog post, a song or a journal entry. In this day and age where you can make a billion dollars off of a little idea called Facebook because you liked networking with your friends via PC because computers make you happy – you can’t afford you not do what you love. Well, you can but you may miss out on a big payout.

Of course, like I said before I’m happy so maybe you shouldn’t take it from me. But have a little conversation with yourself, develop a life plan and point out distinctively what makes you happy. What do you enjoy doing? It’s so funny because after working for the man for so long and catering to your family, friends or spouse/significant other’s needs you become lost and ignorant to what really made you happy in the first place. Take some time to figure it all out and trust me it’ll be worth it. If not, just stop worrying about what other people say, don’t psych yourself out if you’re tired, lazy or scared of it and accept happiness for what it is. The things you once thought would thrill you may not be all you ever dreamed of and maybe that one thing you never thought you’d give a chance can give you that peace you’ve needed all along.

In hindsight, maybe happiness isn’t so easy to obtain because as they say you’ve got to go through the rain to get a rainbow. But I’m telling you, once you get through that storm, smooth sailing has never felt so good.

So to answer my own question, there is absolutely no reason good enough to compromise my happiness. Because I wouldn’t trade it for the world.