Choosing Happiness

"Dont worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing is gonna be alright"
-Bob Marley
I have recently become obsessed with the concepts of perspective and attitude. While seeing a different perspective may change your attitude completely on any given subject, attitude is completely a choice on how to see the world. Every year Summer comes to a close and Autumn willingly shortens itself to give way to a bossy, controlling Winter that wears its welcome each year. Why talk about seasons when talking about attitude? Simply because it is much easier to hate snow than to like it, but it makes for a much happier Winter to decide you like it. Winter is long, hard, dark, and can be quite lonely. Why decide you hate everything about it? Why put yourself in a bad mood about Winter when you can decide to like it, to be ok with it, to spite your enemy, that is Winter, and enjoy yourself?
I focus on Winter because most people can relate to the feelings we have against it. However, changing our attitude about Winter can be applied to anything we may not be able to control but have no choice to remove ourselves from. I need to work on my attitude about homework, among other things. While I can complain all I want about how much I have, how difficult it is to understand, or how many tests I have at any given time, all it does is waste my time and energy. My new goal is to focus not on how much I dislike spending time working on homework, but to see the good. I want to be able to see 3 good things in each undesirable situation given to me.
While I may not have the best attitude, I want to be among the best. I want to choose happiness. I want to be able to create a safe-zone for myself in a storm of life that doesnt let up no matter how worn down I become. Being able to laugh during a hard time is something I've always prided myself on. Now I will focus on looking up, looking forward, and being positive.
I am a big believer in attitudes being everything. Liking and disliking anything needs to be a conscious decision. I did not like running until I decided to like it. Now I love it. You will not like vegetables until you decide to like them. You will not like someone until you decide to. I think life is too long for us to decide not to like it.
My perspective in the last while has changed greatly because the first few years of college is when you become You. I am currently becoming Me. I can choose who I am friends with, who I date, where I work, what I study, whether or not I study, what I eat, where I go, etc. The list could go on forever. To sum it up, I make my own decisions. It takes perspective to make most of those decisions. Without the right perspective, it would be very easy to make the wrong decision. For months I was very upset about being the only one in my circle of friends that wasnt dating. Then I was dating. It never felt right, and ultimately it didnt work. Now I know that my time alone is going to be worth it when I am with the one I end up marrying. I dont know, yet, who that will be, but I know it will be worth it. With relation to school, without the right perspective and thinking about my whole life, and not just about me here and now, I can decide to study something that will benefit me forever.
I hear and have seen that many girls go wild in their first few years of college. The new-found freedom is too much. They get tattoos, they party, they have friends they never would have before. Soon, their actions start to define them and instead of just acting, they become that person. They become the partier, the drunk, or the whore. If they would stop and think of a correct perspective and see their potential, the potential of a family, of a wonderful life, of being addiction-free, would they continue down the path that is so hard to come back from? Maybe a boring, date-free summer isnt so bad after all.
May we all see with perspective and choose our attitude with discretion.
May we all be happy on purpose.