Confession: I’m not always what you’d call the most positive person. I’ve always been prone to worrying and seeing the negative in things, to having a good ol’ whinge about anything and everything. I get tired, I get bored and I get fed up.
Happiness has always been some longed for state that I hoped for, one day, if I was lucky.
But over the last year or two, I’ve come to realise that happiness isn’t some external force that the universe creates. You’ve got to decide to embrace it.
Now I’m not saying every person who is unhappy has chosen to be that way; that would be patronising and far too simplistic. Everyone’s situation is different. Some people have genuine mental health problems while others struggle with awful life situations. They don’t always get to choose.
No, I’m talking to the people like me, with good lives and comfortable homes.
It’s easy to be bogged down by the mundane dramas of the everyday and the little crappy things that happen. But look beyond that and maybe things aren’t so bad.
All it takes is something small to make you appreciate life.
The other day I got into the car, forgetting I had the Silent Alarm album by Bloc Party in the CD player. So Here We Are came bursting out of the speakers and brought the biggest smile to my face, because that’s the song I chose to walk down the aisle to at our wedding. It can turn a rubbish day around.
This year, I’m going to focus on the moments, those perfect ones that come along when you aren’t looking. Remember enough of them and life is suddenly pretty damn amazing.
PS. All this was written with the voice of Ewan McGregor in the back of my head, shouting, “Choose life…choose a fucking big television,” to a soundtrack of Born Slippy by Underworld. I just couldn’t resist the comparison.
Sara Strauss says
This is wonderful!! I like to think I’m a pretty happy and optimistic person, but of course there are always those days that are complete crap and all I want to do is stay indoors, but if you decide to make it happy and decide to turn your day around it always ends up being much easier to change my day than I think it will be! 🙂
~Sara
Amy Lord says
Thanks! Of course it’s easier said than done, but it’s worth making the effort to be a bit more positive. It’s amazing how often I have a rubbish day for no real reason, but I’m working on it this year!
Kristin - My Life as a Teacup says
I read this with Trainspotting on the mind too 🙂
Sometimes there are bad days, and while I try to acknowledge them and experience them too, I make it a point to not dwell in them. It’s okay to be down one minute, and laughing the next due to something funny that happened or was said. And when those small moments of joy creep up on you, good or bad day, you’ve gotta enjoy them!
Amy Lord says
Love your attitude, Kristin! I guess we need a little of the bad too so we can appreciate the good.