The Griffon News

Finding happiness is not like finding a pot of gold.

It is much easier, and you don’t have to wait for a rainbow.

Happiness is a decision that we as people make, just the same as deciding to be sad, depressed and wallowing in our own mud puddle of pity.

Taking time out of a busy schedule to do one thing that makes you happy each day will dramatically improve your outlook on life.

Happiness has been proven in the medical field to boost the immune system and keep sickness at bay. Also, being happy just makes you a better person. No one wants to be around the Grumpy Gus or Sad Sally. Those bad feelings transfer from one person to another.

Spread happiness; try smiling even though your heart is breaking.

One activity that you can do to boost your mood is exercising. Take a walk and think out the problems of your life. Let them go while you are out and about.

Go to Target, buy some paper, finger paints, and tarp, and then go  crazy. As juvenile as it sounds, finger painting is therapeutic and just fun. Being creative releases those feel good endorphins, and just letting down the “adult persona” and bringing back the inner child is good for you.

Smile and laugh as you smear the paint and feel the texture of the paint and paper and whatever colors you create and shapes that you view to be your family.

We all have problems in our lives that are unsavory and downright unfair. However, we can choose to be consumed by these issues or do something about them, improve our lives and get back to happy ASAP.

Right now, I am not happy being a college student. I hate the fact that I have three jobs and my bills are still piling up. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel – graduation is near, along with what will soon be a national holiday, my birthday.

I have great friends this semester, something that I have needed for quite sometime.

Also, I have been looking for a job and a way to get away from here and do what I truly love, writing.

I find that misery loves company, and I had to reassess myself a few times this semester when I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. With a high-stress job and dealing with several different personalities and keeping them corralled, it is easy to get sucked into the ‘why me’ drain and get spiraled into depression and anxiety.

Misery will not find me.

For one thing, as long as I can make a nightly list of 10 things I am grateful for then there is nothing for me to cry and moan about.

I am well fed, educated, loved by someone, self-assured, have a few close relationships that I can depend on and most of all I am alive. Many people do not have the simplest things on my list.

How dare I get upset about not having enough money to buy the beautiful top I saw online when children are starving and neglected all over the world.

Self-preservation is much more important to me than anything else. We only get one life. Why mess it up by being upset about it all the time?

Make yourself happy. Love yourself.