Smile!

This week has been rough, and its only Tuesday! At least its not Monday… right? Sometimes it’s hard to look at the bright side and be optimistic. Sometimes you don’t want to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Why? Because its easier to hang out in the darkness. It’s easier to stay right where you are. Not necessarily happy, but comfortable nonetheless. A friend asked me today “How are you so optimistic?” I shrugged my shoulders and tried to answer. I just answered- why not be optimistic? It makes life better; being sad is a big waste of time. It was an honest answer and how I think everyone should live. Had I answered in a more personal and explained way (we were just about to take an exam) my answer would have been- well first off, that I’m not optimistic all the time. There are so many times that I would rather be just blah and not smile. And how am I optimistic in those times? Sometimes it just takes work, especially when life is throwing you reason after reason not to smile, you have to find ten plus one reasons to smile- counteract the negative! One of the things that he said was that it’s just easier to be down… Easier to stay on the wrong side of the bed that you woke up on. Of course its easier!

Think about gravity- no matter what, climbing UP stairs is a lot more work than walking down. Almost every morning I have a class on the fourth floor- two sets of stairs for each floor. At 9 in the morning I certainly do not want to be climbing up stairs. But once I get up, catch my breath a little… And I’m okay. I’m where I want/need to be. Took a little work to get there, but it was so much more satisfying than taking the elevator. There are a lot of people I know who take the elevator in life- they take the easy way out. Instead of working toward happiness and doing things that will bring them up and keep them up, they go for a temporary high. A temporary good feeling. They might lose control along the way but they forget about the bad things. When the elevator has to come back down, they come right back down with it. Sometimes feeling worse off than when they started- physically and mentally! Do things that are going to have a positive and LASTING impact on your life- friends, memories you can actually remember, a good laugh… they will bring you so much further in life. When you make a habit of taking the easy way out… you can forget what it means to have a genuine feeling of happiness, and work for it. Its kind of like working out- the more in shape you are, the easier those stairs are going to be to climb.

Most of the time you have more things to be worried/stressed/frusterated about than things that bring you happiness. Think about it. It doesn’t take much effort to isolate yourself, to take out your anger on other people… to be honest, sometimes it feels good! Don’t get me wrong; there is a time and a place for being (insert bad emotion here). But you have got to find a happy medium. Meet yourself at a place of compromise. Better yet, challenge yourself! When those negative thoughts or moods start creeping in, nip it in the butt before it gets out of control.

It is Gods WILL for you to be happy! He wants you to be joyful! In fact, he grieves with you. When you are sad, it brings him sadness. If you think he delights in seeing you angry, you have the wrong idea of God. A God who loves you so much, he wants you to be so happy that he has a perfect plan for you life that will provide happiness! No its not always going to be a stroll in the park, but tomorrow is always a new day.

“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” Job 8:21

So there are my long and drawn out thoughts about being optimistic.

Short and sweet: When life gets you down… Just smile, its not as hard as it looks. J