The word happy. It gets a bad reputation in my mind. Happiness is something every human being has this innate desire to achieve. It almost seems unreachable when you feel yourself in a state of depression. It takes so much for people to motivate themselves to achieve happiness when everything around them is constricting and linear. Although life has its traditional directions, I think each person individually embarks on his or her own path to happiness. Of course there are obvious obstacles-awkward middle school years, broken friendships, terrible relationship woes, and enough family drama to make it seem like you’re on an episode of the Real Housewives of New Jersey.
Even if your mom hasn’t worked up the nerve to flip a table in a five star restaurant, she probably has had the urge to. Not everything is perfect. Not everyone has it all together. I think that’s what makes the adjective “happy” so difficult to grasp. People can use a lot of words to describe themselves, so why is happy usually not one of them?
There is this website, 100happydays.com. It is challenging people to be happy for 100 days in a row. I think this is an amazing way for people to look at their lives and reevaluate what they do on a regular basis. Is it making you feel happy? You can participate by using the hash tag #100happydays to your social media platforms to keep track of your everyday progress. It is not a way to brag about yourself (as social media has quickly become a way to do so), it is an outlet for individuals to express what makes them feel happy.
A lot of people are starting to partake in this new trendy hash tag. The popularity of something so positive is a great move in the right direction for Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. As stated on the 100happydays website, people who have successfully completed the challenge claimed to have started noticing what makes them happy everyday, be in a better mood, have started receiving more compliments from other people, realized how lucky they are to have the life they have, become more optimistic, and have fallen in love during the challenge. These all sound like phenomenal outcomes from simply paying attention to the little things that make you smile.
Here is your sign to start making changes in your day-to-day routine. Millions of people use social media as an outlet to let the world know what they are up to. Instead of sharing that you’re hungry, why not look up a recipe and cook something delicious? Learning how to make something special could make you happy! Passing on that recipe to a friend could make them happy if they see your Instagram photo of it.
The road to happiness is long and faces its challenges, but if there are easier ways to realize how many great things you already have then it makes sense to participate. Pharrell has put out a song that embodies what it means to have happiness. Listen to that inspiring song. Sing, dance, post for the #100happydays challenge, do what you can to clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do.