Be your own sunshine. Radiate positivity. Wake up every day and make the choice to be happy. Some people are naturally overtly joyous and infect those around them with happiness, others have to work at it for one reason or another.

You cannot rely on others to brighten your day because more often than not they have to worry about being their own sun, not your light. Not because they mean to do you harm, but because they have their own things to worry about other than your happiness. We have to be our own champions; no one is going to do it for us.

As we grow we must find the things, no matter how small, that make us joyful, that bring light to our day; we cannot, we must not, live under a cloud of darkness.

I enjoy making other people feel good, it genuinely makes me content, but we shouldn’t seek recognition or acknowledgement for things we should always be doing. Small acts of kindness not only improve our day, but the days of those around us.

I can recall seeing one of my classmates in middle school commit one of these small, unnoticed acts. She saw that one of our friends seemed to have lost his book and proceeded to get into trouble for it, but upon further investigation she discovered that another one of our friends had taken it in order to avoid getting in trouble herself. So, after class she took the book from our one friend who carelessly tossed it aside and returned it to the locker of our friend, who jubilantly exclaimed to our teacher he had found his book. Having watched all of this from the sidelines, I asked my friend why she bothered to do that, she said because it made him happy and because our other friend will never notice and didn’t think of how her actions affected those around her. The happiness on my friends face for silently saving the day was something I wanted to feel and have everyday sought out to achieve.

It is our job not only to ourselves but to others to put the best version of ourselves out there. If we all decided to put forth a bit more effort to understand and seek to make those around us see the grace in life and engage in the small, unnoticed acts of kindness, would not the world run a bit more smoothly? We all have a choice. I find it easier to be happy than to be sad and to spread that joy to those around me, however possible. This I believe.