Rants of a "Choosing-to-be-Happy" Mormon Girl

Sometimes the tiniest things are what get me through the day. A few nights ago I had a really good long talk with my brother

                What a GUNTHER

and one of my best friends, Sean (Yes that's a selfie stick picture #SorryNotSorry)

We kinda just talked about life, late into the night, and it was really nice. 

It got me really thinking about the little things that I'm grateful for that happen to me, frequently or not. I think (okay....know) that sometimes I focus way too much on all of the bad things going on in my life, or the lives of those around me,and I forget how many things, that may seem tiny in perspective, have really brightened my life.

For one, I'm really grateful for random talks like that, that can really get you talking, thinking, and feeling.

I'm really grateful for people who ask how you are because they are genuinely curious, not because they don't know what else to say. 

I'm grateful for anyone who has ever left me a cute little note, short or long, you'll never have any idea what it means to me to know I've been thought of.

I'm grateful for social media. It can be kind of annoying at times, but it really does make it so much easier to stay connected with people that I wouldn't have contact with any other way. I love being able to see how my elementary school friends are doing, or how people I taught/met on my mission are.

I'm grateful for the wonderful people who chose to take time out of their busy lives to at least write me one letter or email while I was on my mission. I understand life is busy, trust me I do, but those letters got me through. I always got letters of encouragement when I needed them the most. Also grateful for all of the prayers in my behalf.

I'm grateful for calendars, because let's be real, I would forget ALL of my plans and overbook every single day if calendars didn't exist.

I'm grateful for true friendship. Not just people you spend a lot of time with, or can really talk to, but those friends where you don't have to be busy to have a good time, you don't have to be constantly talking to enjoy each other's company. 

Shout-out to Tay! We sometimes just lay around, or play on our phones or watch tv but we still always have the greatest time.

Oh and friends who don't mind hanging out with your family. I have a friend who was supposed to meet me at my house and I ended up getting home later than I had said, and instead of waiting in the car, like most people would do, he went in and chilled with my family until I got home. I don't know why but I just thought that was so cool. He also never minds when I invite my siblings along to our hang outs. How cool is that? I really do have incredible friends.

I guess he deserves some credit for being pretty great, shout-out to Sean! (Yes, the same Sean from that great talk I mentioned earlier)

I'm grateful for the sudden realizations I have every once in a while of how wonderful my life is. We all should truly take a minute to think about the many blessings we have in our life, because, I promise you, life could always be worse.

I recently finished reading the book "My Story" written by Elizabeth Smart.

This book is written about the author's experience when she was 14 and taken out of her bedroom and held captive for 9 months. She suffered through much abuse; verbal and emotional, as well as hunger, thirst, and rape.

I'm not here to say "cheer up because your life isn't as hard as hers. "

I don't know your struggles and I'm not going to pretend I'll ever know how you feel or what you've suffered through. 

However I would like to share with you her extremely positive outlook on life after this traumatic experience. At the closing of the book she focuses on and reminds us of the many miracles she lived through and tender mercies she experienced during those 9 months.

"Life is a journey for us all. We all face trials. We all have ups and downs. All of us are human. But we are also the masters of our feet. We are the ones who decide how we are going to react to life. Yes, I could have decided to allow myself to be handicapped by what happened to me. But I decided very early that I only had one life and that I wasn't going to waste it. As of this writing, I am 25 years old. I have been alive for 307 months. Nine of those months were pretty terrible, but 298 of those months have been very good. I have been happy. I have been very blessed. Who knows how many more months I have left? But even if I died tomorrow, 9 out of 307 seems like pretty good odds. Looking at it that way, I don't think I have much to complain about."

Our happiness comes from ourselves. Nothing and no one can control how we feel. They can try all they want, but if we choose to be happy, we cannot be stopped. Sure there will be road blocks, life gets hard, people are difficult, but if we focus on the good, we can live out our lives happy. That's what I want. So, now, I choose to be happy.

Here is something Elizabeth remembers her mom telling her shortly after she was rescued and returned home. However, I'm going to change it just a bit to make it more applicable to everyone. 

"You be happy. Just be happy. If you go and feel sorry for yourself and dwell on the bad, if you hold on to your pain, that is allowing it to steal your life away. So don't you do that! You keep every second for yourself."

I love that. Just be happy. It really is so simple.

Choose happiness, because you absolutely have that kind of control.

~A "Choosing To Be Happy" Mormon Girl