Choosing Happy

This post is brought to you by a few thoughts from yesterday:

First and foremost, Patrick's new book that he wrote for Beatrix for her sixteenth birthday. Available for a hot second before we leave for spring break tomorrow.

The response of someone he knows on the internet, who wrote yesterday that he had decided years ago that he would never be happy (and reading his posts, he seems to be right.). It was one of the saddest things I've encountered in a long time.

A friend's social media post, in which she discusses another person's comment of "I really think a sizable proportion of the population has become addicted to being angry" with the sage response of "I think a lot of them are doing it because it's more enjoyable to be angry than to be depressed."

And we finally finished watching this season's Fargo last night. I won't give any spoilers, but it's extremely on theme with this post.

So this is the deal. There's a lot on my life that's not perfect (and yes, I know social media makes everything look great). There's a lot of stress, and worry, and things not working right, and anxiety, and all of that. Right now, I'm struggling with having been sick a lot this year despite the mild winter, and some overarching dread that there's some huge health issue and I'm going to die young like my mom..

But every single day I wake up and make the choice to be happy.

To be oh-so-thankful that the cats want to cuddle and the dogs are thrilled when I come down the stairs. To enjoy looking at the magnolia branch blooming on the table and that first cup of coffee. To have too much work, which is absolutely a good thing. To look out at the city I love deeply. To connect with friends and family, even if just with a quick text. To be able to read, and listen to MPR, and think about things. To maybe go out and enjoy a coffee or a drink or a quick trip to Target with my teen. To have a husband, and a daughter, who are completely my people and who give me a reason for being.

This isn't to say that I don't worry about things, or work to make them better. part of the choosing to be happy comes from serving on boards, going to community meetings, even just taking a trash bag with me on a walk to pick up trash. There are a lot of things that are really f*cked up in the world, and we need to work to make them better. But that's also part of choosing happy, it really is.

I'm not saying you need to re-read Pollyanna. I'm also not saying that there are not a lot of big issues that we should all be working to make better. But I am saying that we're all on this earth for a limited amount of time, and I firmly believe that, if you don't wake up and choose happy every day, you are wasting some of that time and you'll never get it back.

Just choose happy, whenever you can.