when life gives you lemons, do you make lemonade or squeeze them in other people’s eyes?

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Life happens. It’s not perfect by any means, and it’s inevitable that things aren’t going to go your way sometimes (or all the time). It’s easy to get upset about your circumstances and where you are in a particular phase of life…trust me, I know! But what makes you YOU is how you react to these situations. It’s how you choose to move on, in spite of the negativity and unfortunate circumstances. You don’t have control over your circumstances, but you do have control over yourself.

It’s so easy to throw myself a pity party when things aren’t going my way and just dwell on the negativity. Seriously easy. Like, ‘throw in the towel, my life sucks, what’s the point’ kind of pity party. ‘Down in the dumps, people hate being around me, I’m just a self-loathing fool’ kind of pity party.

But what’s the point?

What good would it do for me to do that? What good could possibly come of being such a negative and brooding person? None. Friends would no longer want to hang out with me. Family would just be annoyed with me. New people would steer clear of me. And I’d only feel worse. So again I ask, what’s the point?

I’ve learned that it’s much better to find the silver lining of those situations. I’m not saying that I’m never sad or upset or angry about anything, because that’s not true in the least. Allow yourself to feel however it is you’re feeling, but make the decision to dust yourself off and move on in a positive way. Not a ‘I’ll live and will get over it‘ kind of way. That’s not positive. That’s annoying. That’s passive aggressive and ain’t nobody got time for that.

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I choose happiness. I choose to make the best of situations, even when they’re not going my way. Especially when they’re not going my way. Attitude is everything, and it shows your true character. I’ve been around people that are constantly complaining about something and have no hope or confidence that it’s happening for a reason or that it’ll get better. Day in and day out, it’s always SOMETHING. I hate being around those people, so why would I want to be that person? It’s not healthy. It brings me down to be around those people. It brings me down to be around someone that’s never happy or satisfied with anything. I just can’t stand it. So, I’m going to choose not to be around you. I can only do so much to cheer you up and try to make you feel better, but once you’re so sucked into your own self-loathing, down in the dumps, ‘my life sucks’ pity party, no one can help you out of it but yourself. CHOOSE to be happy. CHOOSE to have a positive outlook on it. Don’t be snarky and snide, saying things like ‘eh, I’m used to it,’ or ‘it’s just the way my life goes…‘. Been there. Done that. It’s not healthy.

Having a positive attitude makes me a genuinely more happy person. I find joy in the little things, even if it’s just having a phone conversation with a loved one or reading a book I’ve been wanting to sit down with for a while. Even new post-it notes or a new pen can bring a smile to my face. Seriously, it’s the little things. And life is too short to be grumpy and upset about the curve balls being thrown my way. I choose to step up to the plate and if I’m going down, I’m going to go down swinging!

Of course, there are days when that choice is a little bit more difficult to make, but once I choose happiness and to get over myself, I’m thankful. I never regret choosing to be happy, but I almost always regret wasting so much time being negative and grouchy.

And this is what I personally do with life’s lemons… 😉

YOU have a choice…which do you choose? How do you stay in high spirits and remain positive in an unfortunate situation? 

I challenge YOU! Today, choose happiness over regret and anger and bitterness. And let me know how that goes ;).


And for a little motivation…

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Moral of the above picture: make something better than expected!