Making Happiness

I needed more milk this week, so I went to one of the neighborhood grocery stores near my home.  I couldn't help but chuckle as I walked past all the rows of empty shelves.  I thought it was so funny to see the product of mass hysteria, mostly because I just wonder why people are so scared.  And by saying this I feel like I give off a type of persona best put in this meme from long ago.

I sometimes think this meme is used to describe me at other times anyway; I can have a very dark sense of humor.  I apologize if it puts anyone on edge whenever they are around me.  I haven't done anything terribly awful.  And in good news, it's been a few years since I have punched someone besides my brother.

Now that I have gone on my first tangent, I will return to chuckling at empty shelves (and trying to keep it silent, so people around me don't think I am out of my mind).  Also, I know that it really is of concern that there are supplies that people need that they cannot get.  With that said, I'm not treating this whole Coronavirus thing as a joke, but I'm also not letting it get me down. 

I have been asked several times in my life how I can be so happy when bad or unfortunate stuff has happened to me or how I can have so much faith.  And as I reflect on how I can joke about things so much and find random things amusing or still be so happy when it seems the world is breaking down, I have come to find that there are two things that I truly rely on: a personal relationship with God and making my life as I want it.

A Personal Relationship with God

I know a lot of you know this, but I just thought I would share my experience again.  In 2009, when I was 15, my mom died.  It was very sudden.  She was checked into a hospital and diagnosed with Leukemia, and then a week and two days later, she was gone.  Between then and age 19, I learned to have a very good relationship with God.  Though I had so much family, church members, friends, and neighbors around me trying to support me, there was a lot of stuff that was said that was not comforting and even detrimental to an already hurting spirit.  I relied only on God for any self-worth and understanding to what I was going through.  I talked to God more than I talked to any other person.  As I talked to God, He talked to me too.  My self-esteem grew, and I came to know my worth.  I learned that God talks to us a lot more than we might think He does.  He knows infinitely more than we do, and guess what, it's gonna be okay.  We're gonna live.  And if we don't, then we're gonna be back with God, which is okay.  So it's all okay.  God knows what He is doing, believe it or not.

Provo, Utah (or birthday cake) Temple

Making My Own Life

I have always been an adventurous kid.  And I hate being another cliche; I must be my own person, or else what is the point.  Throughout my time as an undergraduate student, I had to take a few classes that involved positive psychology.  And I learned that our happiness is supposedly 50% genetic, 10% our circumstances, and 40% our choice.  So, this means that we determine almost half of our happiness.  We get to choose whether or not we are going to be happy.  But here's the great part: I don't know if these stats are true, so it might be more.  And, there's this other theory of epigenetics, which means that our environment and choices can turn on and off various aspects of our genetic code.  So that means that we can still do stuff to affect our 50% of genetic happiness.  Basically, we can decide to be happy.  Now, I'm not saying there is no such thing as depression and anxiety.  There is definitely that, but I think that we can make choices that will affect how much those illnesses wreak havoc on our minds and bodies.

I choose to see life as an adventure and a series of opportunities that we can take.  I would love to experience many of the things that life has to offer, and I choose to see my life as opportunities that have already been given and taken.  How many people have the experience of losing a loved one on their bucket list?  Probably no one, or at least not many.  That's a sad thing, but having experienced it, I am grateful for all of life's possible experiences.  I've been on many adventures, and I intend to keep going.  And that's why I laugh and cry and find happiness and create happiness.  I choose to make my life, instead of fearing it.  I still fear some things, but it doesn't always hold me back.  I like doing things that I am afraid of (for the most part).  I think it makes me look cool.

Doing Something that Terrifies Me

Life is what you make it.  I choose to laugh in times that are hard.  Laughing also has a higher chance of making someone else laugh than being a Debby Downer.  So you might just lighten someone else's load along the way.