Many times in my life, someone has told me that maybe I wasn’t happy because I wasn’t trying to be. I’ve always laughed in response, finding the notion that you are in control of your emotions ridiculous. And while I still agree it is not so simple and I believe not all emotions can be helped, I have recently decided to put effort into my happiness to discover if there is any truth behind this idea.
Firstly, I decided to start listening to happier music. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my mellow, meaningful, somewhat sad songs, but I wanted to see what would happen if I took a break from them. Happy songs don’t have to mean songs like Happy by Pharrell Williams or Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves, it can mean any song that brings you joy to hear. I chose to add My Girl by The Temptations and Cyclone by Baby Bash (featuring T-Pain) to my new playlist. Yes, these are both very different songs, and yes, they do bring me very different types of joy. But I am here to say, just in case you aren’t one of the few people who have seen me dancing to Cyclone at red lights, this particular choice did do the trick. I now very much look forward to playing these songs every time I get in the car, and they very much improve my mood on the way to school.
My next change pertains to social media. I am one of the people who very much like scrolling on TikTok, and I am not going to lie and say I have stopped. But what I have been doing is making use of the Not Interested button. Just because a video pops up on my phone does not mean I have to pay it any attention. And yes, I could just scroll away, but every app like this has an algorithm, and the fastest way to change yours is to communicate what type of content you do not want to see. A page full of people talking about their sad experiences, scenes of sad movies, and people attempting to do stand-up comedy was not serving me. But a page full of nature videos, puppies, and laughter certainly does.
A third change I have made is keeping the curtain covering the window by my bed open more often. Turns out my mother was right, sunlight does make you happier than sitting alone in a dark room all day long. I do occasionally feel like a plant, but maybe plants aren’t the only organisms that need sunlight to grow.
Lastly, I have been sending more messages and videos to those in my life. Quite often, I have kept to myself for fear of spreading my sadness to those I encounter. But I am now here to tell you that talking to other people can take some of the sadness away and that even if you make someone else a little sad with you, I am almost certain they would rather take on some of the burden than leave you to wallow alone. Plus, if you are as lucky as I am, you might have some very funny friends with a talent for making you laugh when you feel like you want to cry.
Of course, I do not have the power to make you believe what I am telling you. I know for a fact that if I were reading this around a month ago, I would have thought it was nonsense. It is perfectly fine with me if you feel that way currently. All I am trying to say is there is nothing wrong with being sad sometimes. But if you want them, I believe a few moments of happiness are out there waiting for you.
