Sadness happens. Life isn’t always going to be laughs & giggles. It’s okay to be sad – but here’s why you should always smile no matter how sad it gets.
This week – so close to Christmas – I had to attend a funeral. Saying goodbye at this time of year feels even harder than any other, but as hard and sad as it was; it did make me think about how sometimes, the world just seems to stop spinning. No laughter, no joy and everything in-between filters away to leave only darkness.
No matter how happy you think you are, there always seems to be a gravitational pull towards the ground. It’s easy to throw in the towel – decide to give up trying to be nice to people because if you can’t be happy and content, why should they? We forget that while we might be sad, there is always a choice to be made.
Sadness happens – it’s true; life isn’t always going to be laughs and giggles but that doesn’t mean it isn’t okay to feel sad.
Today it seems like everyone tries to push sadness away; we deny it exists because we view it as a sign of weakness. When a person is sad, no one wants to be around them. So we fake it. We pretend to be happy because we want friends, we want to leave a good impression, and we want to be professional at being human. But the truth of the matter is we’re all human – so we all can see right through it.
Happiness vs. Joy
Happiness is easy to find because it’s a choice, but joy – joy is something innate. The root of it comes from how you perceive the world and especially, yourself.
What is it that enslaves you? What invisible force pulls you down into a spiralling tunnel of questions and doubt? Who is it? Why is it?
The only person who can solve these questions is you. You are the only one who knows your battles – no one else. To depend on the help of others for joy is selfish because in order to do so you need to steal a bit of their joy. You need to build your own joy and building it is much simpler than you think.
Look around you. Depending on whatever thoughts are running around in your head, you might see peace or you might see conflict. These thoughts are seeds planted by you by habit. Habits aren’t always going to be right, but it’s never too late to change them.
It starts as a smile. No one can find joy without finding a reason to smile. In spite of what’s happening in the world or in your life, a smile is the crack in which joy can be let in. Without one, our brain doesn’t know how to translate it.
The truth of the matter is where there’s sadness there is also joy, for when you have one thing it’s only natural to assume there is an opposite – dark/light, up/down, hot/cold. But nothing is forever.
Sadness, anxiety, obsession is all short-term. Nothing is ever going to worry you forever because eventually you learn it’s not as bad as you thought.
But in order to learn we must first have the courage to pay the time. During which, a smile might be our only way to sense a direction of where we can find some joy. So do it.
