The secret of being happy is accepting where you stand in life and making the most out of everyday. Being happy and positive is a choice and a lifestyle that one can choose to live. It’s not hard to do, and it is not a hard decision to make. Many people do not realize that being positive and happy can actually benefit one’s life or someone else’s life in many different areas. Studies have shown that being positive can dramatically lower stress levels, make you more successful and help you maintain a healthy equilibrium.

Personally, I am a very positive person, and I try to always look at the bright side of every situation even if I know that something is not right. When I was younger I had a hard time being positive. Even though I was young, there was a lot happening in my life, and my family would constantly nagged me saying that someone in the world had it worse than me and that I should have nothing to be upset about. Eventually, that statement got to my head. There could have been so many worse things going on in my life that I could have been upset about, what I was always upset about was never really that bad.

For the past couple of years now I have lived by a different motto; never take anything for granted. I wake up everyday with a smile on my face, and look at different ways to have a better day than the day before. At first, people think that I put on an act to gain their friendship, or that I am being “fake nice.”—I’m not making this up. I have actually been told this.—But then, they say that they realize that I am a genuinely positive person all the time, and that I am not fake at all. It is just who I am, and being positive is my normal behavior. Actually it is funny because I have received nicknames that portray my positive attitude like “Bubbles,” “Smiley” and so many more, that just turns into a list that no one wants to read. I truly do enjoy being positive all the time. Now, I don’t “try” to be positive, it just comes naturally.

One of the things that I value the most is not only making my self have good days, but making others have good days as well. In many cases, there are people who honestly do not want to be positive and they just want to be miserable, and that’s fine. I don’t get upset when people don’t like being around me because I am a ball of joy. I smile and continue on with my day. Again, why let something or someone negative hold me down when I have so many other things to be positive about? But like I said, it is still important to try and make everyone happy even if it is only with a smile, because you would never know what something as simple as that could do for someone.

A couple years ago, a young man wrote a letter that was left on his bedside table. It said, “I’m going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I will not jump.” And you would hope that he survived and didn’t do what he said he would. That young man died that day because not one person smiled at him. No one took a half of a second to look at him and smile. What has this world come to? People do not give little gestures like a smile anymore, and unfortunately things like this happen. People are taking their lives because they can’t find one thing in their life that is worth living for. Sometimes people do need a little help from someone else. Sometimes they need someone to ask if they are okay. People would not be hurting themselves or others if they took the time to be positive and to help another. You should never take one second for granted. You never know what little actions can do to make someone feel good about themself, or even better, you never know what little actions you can make that can save a person life.