It's All Relative.

I'm not sure what made me think of this the past few days, but I've realized that happiness is all relative. I don't think that anyone is completely happy with all aspects of their lives all the time. There's always something.

Let me explain...or try to.

I'm happy. Those of you who are close to me can probably see it. (Mom, maybe not you because you're the one I always call when I'm upset...sorry, I should really knock that off, huh?) I'm having a great time with my friends, I can do pretty much whatever I want, I have some big possibilities in the future, I'm exercising, eating healthfully (mostly), and just looking out for ME. Which I haven't done in a long time. And it makes me happy.

On the other hand, I'm a little sad. I still miss Felix...sometimes alot. I still cry about it, and I still get lonely because I'm not FULLY used to living alone. I miss being in a relationship, and I miss always having guaranteed weekend plans, even if it's sitting at home, because at least I wasn't sitting at home alone. But when Felix and I were together, I was also sad, but for other reasons. I didn't like the fact that I felt like I was stuck in Youngstown. I had become resigned to the fact that if we were going to be together, that's what I had to do, and I was OK with it, but I wasn't HAPPY about it. I missed hanging out with my friends all the time, I missed having a ton of freedom, and I dealt with a lot of issues we had that weren't getting any better. But I was also happy, because I loved him and had fun with him, and loved the comfort of, well, feeling comfortable.

I guess what I'm saying is that the key to happiness is just focusing on the GOOD things in your life at any given moment, because there's always SOMETHING that's worthwhile going on. I'm not trying to sound like I've got all the answers, or that I've had some sort of Happiness Premonition, but I think it stands true that God doesn't give you anything you can't handle, and if you look around, most of the time there's a lot of great stuff going on around you. So try to focus on the GREAT stuff. Obviously, it's unrealistic to push all the bad, sad stuff to the side..that's not healthy and you gotta deal with it at some point. BUT- when you feel sad, let yourself feel sad for awhile, eat a little ice cream or chocolate, but then get over it. And go to the gym. Or out with your friends.

As Leo Tolstoy apparently said, "If you want to be happy, be."