I woke up badly this morning.  It’s not something I usually do, but occasionally,
it happens.  And if I’m being totally honest, in the last six months, it’s been more
than occasional.

So, I wake up, and since I didn’t have anything pressing I needed to get done today,
I had time to think.  I didn’t pause to be grateful for the day off with my son, or pause
to be grateful that I got to sleep in, I just started letting my thoughts flow, uncontrolled.

“What am I going to do with my work?” “Am I engaged in the right relationships?”
“How can I get what I want, without jacking up everyone else’s life?” “Why am I being
‘nudged’ into a direction I don’t want to go in?” “How can I parent my son so that he
is happy and thriving without killing his spirit for independence?” “What if I’m wrong?”
“What if I’m right?” “What if I’ll never get out of this place?” “What if I’m not supposed
to?”

This is just a glimpse of the crazy-town that’s going on inside my head and I was allowing
it to gain momentum.

I carried that heaviness with me ALL DAY. (Did I mention I’m a LIFE COACH?  I mean,
why wasn’t  I using the tools I KNOW to use to get out of this?)

Then I remembered a Facebook post I had written a long time ago about happiness.
About happiness being a decision, a choice. I knew I had to find that post.  I knew it
would help me.  Funny how I was seeking out my own advice in a moment of
desperation, and that I couldn’t just pull it out of my head, but needed to re-read it
in order to take it in.

I finally found it.  It was a post I wrote in November of 2012.  I instantly felt better.
That obnoxious stream of heavy questioning disappeared.  I felt lighter.  I knew what
I was reading was truth.  And I knew I needed to share it with you today.  I hope it gives
you the same relief it did me today.  If not the same relief, I hope it gives you even just
a little.  It is absolute truth.  Happiness is a choice – a choice available to us all, at all
times.

Here’s what I wrote:

I’ve had many people tell me over the last several years, “You seem happy all the time.”
Most of the time, it’s true – I am really happy. But, I can assure you this hasn’t always
been the case. I had to actually DECIDE to make my happiness a priority- and I didn’t
make that decision until I was about 24 years old. 

During some excruciatingly difficult times in my life, I finally got really tired and made
a decision – a declaration, actually: 

I will do whatever it takes to be happy.  

That decision opened my life up so much wider. It was an acknowledgement to myself
that the only one in charge of my happiness was me. And that was powerful. 

I’m not saying that it didn’t make things a little uncomfortable at first. Prioritizing
happiness meant I had to walk away from certain things and people (which was brutal).
It meant I had to face some fears, admit my stuff, go to places in me that I’d avoided, and
be confronted with disapproval from others. 

But the level of true, authentic happiness I got in return was more than I could ever
have imagined. 

I work on being happier every day, constantly. (Except when I’m taking a moment to
allow myself to be down and out – but just a moment or two.) I do whatever it takes
to be happy – just like I declared I would so many years ago.

Happiness is a decision, an intention that you have to make. 

It’s just not effective for you to wait for things or people to make you happy –
you’ve got to take charge.