Finding Happiness

I've been pondering life a bit lately. In my non-creative writing capabilities, here's the result of my thought process put into words:

Looking back on my childhood and early adulthood, I admit I am guilty of wishing years away and spending time counting down rather than truly enjoying life as it was. The "older" audience of this blog is probably going to laugh when I say that the past always seems so much simpler than the present. I am aware that that will probably always be true no matter how old I get. I'm sure even a few years from now I'll look back on today, this week, this month, and think "life was so simple then" event though it doesn't feel that way.

When I think of simpler times, my mind wanders back 6 years ago to a little city called Rexburg in the great state of Idaho. A freshman in college, living away from home, life was mostly carefree. I lived on a beautiful campus with a beautiful temple in the making:

 There were also some lovely gardens that were so pretty to walk through (when it wasn't cold and snowy which means any time between May and October).

The gardens had some beautiful spots that honestly put BYU's south gardens to shame. 

  In the gardens, there was this cute little house

On the inside of the house was this saying: 

Non-shocking fact: Within happiness is the word happy. There is no way we will ever find happiness in life if we are constantly miserable along the way. Don't get me wrong, ask anyone who has lived with me (family, roommates etc), I can be onery, cranky and miserable. But really, if we spend the majority of our days thinking "Ugh I just can't wait until..." or the classic "I will be so happy and life will be so much easier when..." we will eventually realize how much time we have wasted waiting to be happy rather than just being happy. 

During the summer I spent abroad there were a lot of days I spent feeling sorry for myself, or angry at things going on. With these pictures, you might wonder how could I be anything but happy: 

How I wish I could go back in time and rather than spend many days being irritated or frustrated, realize that I was truly getting a once in a lifetime opportunity and that I should appreciate the good, the bad, and even sometimes heartbreaking for what it was. I love the saying that happiness not a destination, but moreso a way of life.

More often than not, I fail at being content with life as it currently stands. I suppose in a way that's what keeps us progressing to something better. But even when we're waiting for that degree, new car, new house, kids to grow up, etc., we should take a moment to stop and simply just be happy- because misery loves company, not happiness!