While being miserable sounds like an easy way out, being miserable requires not doing anything. Nothing at all. While this may seem like an easy escape, miserable people aren't doing anything new, nothing different, nothing fun (Bytheway 65). Although happiness may take a bit more work on your part, You will get much more out of life and will be able to experience the fullness of life. John Bytheway says this, "Happy people love to try try new things. And when they encounter a problem, they think of it as just another adventure" (65).
I love to go on adventures. Weather it be a walk on a new trail, or going on a road trip to somewhere I've never been before. Life is just to short to not experience all of the adventures you can. This summer, along with a small group of other Mormon girls, I went on a three day hike. We had to hike up, set up camp, learn how to make astronaut food (yes, from a bag) and all of the other essentials of camping in the middle of nowhere Washington. Along with all of those things, we had a bathroom in the middle of the forest behind a giant fallen tree appropriately named, "Peter the potty." 
The hike was something that I was nervous for. But, because I was able to do it, the girls I went with are now some of my best friends in the world. Whenever I seen them, the joy of that hike comes back and it like we are still in the bug infested woods. Adventure is necessary and a life without it is dull and boring. Happiness comes as you learn to live in the moment and choose to make the most of your situation. While happy people will dance in the rain, miserable people, "don't see an opportunity for adventure, they just think they're being picked on" (Bytheway 65).
Being miserable is, just plain miserable. Don't be afraid to have fun
"What would you attempt to do, if you knew you could not fail?"
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing"
- Helen Keller
((What is one of your favorite adventures that you've gone on?))
Bytheway, John. How to Be Totally Miserable: a Self-Hinder Book. Shadow Mountain, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2007
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ReplyDeleteGreat post Julyn! One of my favorite adventures are hanging out with friends. Some of our favorite things to do is usually walk to school and sit on the bleachers at night while the field lights are still on and talk and talk. Other might not call it a adventure, but it has the same intentions. It relaxes all of us and is exactly what we need to live in the moment.
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