“Staying positive doesn’t mean you have to be happy all of the time, it means that even on hard days you know that better ones are coming.” – FofF (Twitter)
I think one of the added tricky elements of the holiday season, is that you often feel the onus to feel cheerful, happy and blessed, from morning until night. And on the days that you aren’t in slap-happy mode, you feel the need to berate yourself, more than ever, for not being/feeling grateful, productive, and glistening-ly excited. You put yourself on your own naughty list for not being overjoyed, every second of the day.
I consider myself to be a mostly upbeat person. I have a sunny, friendly disposition most of the time. Because of this, I think that I feel an expectation from others, (and truthfully, mostly from myself), to be in a jubilant way, all of the time. However, as we all know, the demand, “Be Happy”, doesn’t work like a switch. You can’t just magically turn “Happy” on. “Happy” can be as inconsistent as our strands of Christmas lights, working beautifully one second, and then the next second, turned off, for no particular rhyme or reason.
These last few days, three of my kids have seemed particularly stressed, preparing for, and taking their final exams. My husband and I have been prodding them along with, “It’s almost over. Christmas break is right around the corner.” For some people, the holidays, themselves, stir up so much turmoil and fuss, that their mantra is, “It’s almost over. The new year is right around the corner.” That’s being positive. That’s being hopeful that there will be a happy release, just around the corner, from anything that is tying you up in knots right now. So, “happy” is just a fleeting emotion, and like all emotions, “happy” comes and “happy” goes. Being a positive person, however, is a state of being. It is the looking for the silver lining, the understanding that the clouds will always pass, and the faith in yourself and in your Highest guide, that whatever you experience in life, you will manage it, learn from it and grow, and you will survive it. And that whole process just described is called thriving. Thriving is what positive people do. “Happy” is the cheaply made, not so reliable strand of twinkling lights. “Positive” is the Star of Wonder, faithfully shining in the skies of our hearts, every single day. Even when we can’t see it, we know that the star is there, guiding us along our journeys in Life. And it will see us through to our destination. I’m positive of that fact. Absolutely positive.