I recovered from a ruined day, here’s how you can too.

I couldn’t wait. I had to tell you.

If you’ve had a bad day or you’re feeling down and tired, then this is for you.

If i could replicate how I felt today in someone else, I would be immensely glad. But the truth is, I’ve never felt more alone.

Nothing but a normal Saturday.

Happiness is a choice. It came to my realization.

Some demoralizing things can happen to you. They can make you feel sad, angry, and even bitter.

But I realized one thing. It was in that pivotal moment that the powerful realization hit me — happiness is a choice, not just an after-effect of certain achievements or external events.

Those only boost morale and confidence.

Too often, we allow demoralizing circumstances to dictate our emotional state, spiraling into sadness, anger, and bitterness.

We falsely believe that happiness is contingent on attaining specific milestones or goals.

While those accomplishments can certainly boost our morale and confidence, they do not inherently create lasting happiness within us.

The truth behind happiness is in internalizing it. We have the power to decide how to respond to life’s ups and downs.

We can choose to wallow in self-pity, or we can make a conscious decision to be happy, regardless of the situation.

Happiness is a choice, and you can make a choice to be happy.

I was once read in Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz, it points out that if you want to be happy, be happy, period. Not happy “because of.”

It’s a split-second decision that can change your mood for the entire day.

Of course, none of this would make sense without some back story.

I post on LinkedIn at night about 8PM. That’s when I get a lot of engagement on my content.

This time, I got nothing!
Crickets.

You see, I poured my heart and soul into this piece of content, and it fell flat. Just like that. I genuinely believed this was some of my best, most valuable content yet. I broke down my design style and put in an eye-catching carousel.

This was my main task for the day, and I was happy about it. It felt good to share something that was my own. Noone else can say, “oh, I do that too.”

Only to have it fall completely flat with just one single like.
The lone like was from me.

I woke up this morning, full of enthusiasm and a little pride, only to have that crushed in an instant.

The pre-conditions for a good post were there but somehow… it just bombed.

Normally, I’d feel bad about it. I’d be grumpy the whole damn day, ruminating on why it didn’t work.

But then it struck me.
I’m letting the approval of others dictate my happiness and self-worth. After all, I put so much of myself into that post, only to have it flop.

I’m letting the world decide how I feel. Worst of all, “a social media platform.”

In that split second of my realization, I made a decision to be happy.
To just, be happy.

It was today that I learned and actually saw, that whatever you stretch a hand to give, meets you back halfway. Just like a mirror.

With this realization, I dressed to impress. I smiled to contaminate, and I walked with purpose. Each step as light as a feather.

No living a life with advice from social media, just “me” and the world.

It felt surreal. It still feels surreal.

That I can share this with you is tremendously astounding.

Life passes us by, and we spend it bickering with emotions of sadness, anger, and grief. But what we fail to realize is, happiness is a choice.

I made that choice today, and I liked it.
Liked it? Heck, I loved it.

You might be feeling sad, you might be feeling down. Things didn’t go as planned and took a different turn.

I just want you to make a decision.
Choose to be happy.

Just be happy.
It doesn’t hurt you.
It doesn’t hurt anyone.
It never does.

It just makes the world a better place. Another happy human.

Be a happy human.

Plus, I decided to make a post today, again, and it blew up. It didn’t go viral, but it got the amount of engagement I’m used to.

Happiness is a choice. Choose to be happy.

PS: Not to make a “LinkedIn post” seem like the end of the world, just flexing that storytelling muscle.