Always Happy is Ersatz

Maybe trying to be happy all the time and pleasing everybody else is just avoidance of your own problems.

You know.

Be suuuuuper happy all the time. No bad days. If there is a bad day, FIGURE IT OUT. If you can’t, you’re not trying hard enough. Just paste a smile on, and pretend. Nobody likes a sad sack! Get it together. People like happy people! Grow up.

Sometimes we put negative feelings on the back burner because we don’t want to obligate or make other people feel weird. We have been taught- directly or indirectly- that negative feelings aren’t ok. Keep them to yourself.

But.

Always happy isn’t a real thing.

Negative feelings are real.

Be ok with having a moment. Or a day.

Feel what you need to feel, do what you need to do, and THEN get back up.

(**I definitely don’t recommend staying down after a fall. I’m pretty optimistic and inquisitive by nature, so I do recommend figuring out what you are avoiding by plastering that smile on your face 100% of the time. Fellow people-pleasers? I’m especially talking to you.)

Be real with yourself. Because real is Luxuriously Dope. 🖤