Blast from the past

I found something I wrote almost three and a half years ago and want to share it here for easy access. These are good reminders for me.

These are things you need to know to be happy:

• Other people want to be happy, too. No one likes feeling crummy, so don’t take it personally if you’re not always exclusively included in what makes a specific somebody happy. Just find another way to be happy.
• Being happy is not a way to get back at other people. It’s just being happy -- for yourself.
• Sometimes, it might help to pretend that you’re another person. Not a different person, but another person, if that makes sense. Another version of You.
• Reading helps with that (above) because you can really be somebody else. Read something tragic so you can feel all of those tragic things and realize, hey! look! I have got it goooood! Also read non-tragic things so you can feel those non-tragic things, too, and be happier still.
• At night, when you’re in bed, never, ever think of these things:

1. school
2. work
3. any faulty relationships in your life
4. how messy your room is
5. pretty much anything that makes you feel stressed or anxious

because you have so much time when you’re awake to think of those things, and well gosh, isn’t it stupid to bother yourself with things that make you feel blue almost a full 24 hours of every day?

• It’s fun to challenge yourself. I like to think I have a high tolerance for pain, so just to prove to myself that I do, I’ll push my own limits if I have to deal with things (physically, too. like today I was making cupcakes and the batter got real thick but I still kept mixing it even though it hurt, and boooy did I have fun mixing it even though it hurt for the precise reason that it hurt! It was like I was beating myself in a game!) When you’re playing against yourself, it’s easier to win.