Go! Be Happy!

Many people often ask me how I manage to do the things I do.

I’m going to tell you my secret.

But first, I’m going to share some ugly secrets with you. Brace yourselves!

I swear. Not like a sailor, but I do. And I’ve flipped people off, mostly behind his, er, their back. I drink copious amount of Diet Pepsi everyday even tho I know it’s terrible for me and I eat Twinkies when I’m depressed. (Ok , so that last one is not so much a secret anymore….)

I only do laundry when someone is out of something and even though I’ve bought all the boys dress shoes for Sunday, by the time Sunday comes, I can never find them.

I’ve been trying to lose 50 lbs for the last 4 years and only succeeded in losing the same 10 over and over again.

I lose socks. Seriously, I buy socks about 5 times a year.

Sure I have great qualities, and it’s easy to be happy when you remember everything great about yourself, but then, somehow, we make the negatives more. So, how to truly be happy?

The secret?

CHOICE.

If you choose happy, you’re happy. Does this sound trite? Too Easy? Why? Why can’t it be that easy? What if it is? What if it really is as easy as CHOOSING to be happy?  If you’re waiting to be happy til you lose weight or get the perfect husband, or until your kids become geniuses or whatever, you will never be happy. If you’re waiting for politicians to tell the truth or every despot to die, happiness will always be just out of your reach. Other people cannot make you happy.

I’m happy because I’m happy. Being a mom, being a woman, being a wife, being a human being, makes me happy because I let it. None of my kids get straight ‘A’s’. Blair doesn’t have a job, and Nick calls me Maren.

Who cares? I am happy. I make myself happy. If I’m starting to feel unhappy, I accept that, release it, and move on.  The choices of others do affect me, sometimes negatively. I could say, He/She is making me unhappy. Except that:

The only person who can make you happy, or unhappy is you.

And once in a while, maybe a Twinkie…:)

(p.s. After writing ‘happy’ all those times, it starts to look wrong, and makes me look a little funny…happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy..I swear I’m not drinking anything stronger than pepsi!:))