The good is always there.

I've been discovering lately that happiness is not something that will come and tap me on the shoulder while I am busy stressing or beating myself up.

Happiness is a decision. The good is always, always there. Waiting to be acknowledged and celebrated. And if I don't see it or feel it, there are so many avenues of access. But it takes initiative.

I was so sad today about something that I had every right to be sad about. Something that is objectively painful and difficult. I spoke it out with my husband, he gave the issue its requisite acknowledgement, and then he did something brilliant. He turned on music and started singing to me. He, by the way, is not a singer and wasn't trying to be one in that moment, which made it all the more hysterical.

 I was laughing and crying for a good 10 minutes. It just moved me so much. It was like saying, okay, some things in life are far from perfect. But who says I can't be silly and happy and smile in the face of anything that comes my way? 

I want to remember this at all times. Happiness is an active choice. The music didn't turn itself on. He turned it on. He decided. And it wasn't escape from the reality. It was acknowledgement of the difficulties, and simultaneous celebration of the rest of what life has to offer.