Happy Is As Happy Does…

But what the fuck is it doing.

I don’t think this year is an accident.

It isn’t bad luck, nor is it a byproduct of global unrest, climate tantrums, or even the recklessness of power-hungry motherfuckers. It’s an intentional shift, a universal intervention. If we haven’t moved ourselves closer to the people we’re meant to be by now, life is stepping in. And this time, no one’s being left off the list.

As I sit here with only 195 days remaining, watching time oscillate between is this month ever going to end and holy shit, where did it go, I’ve come to a radical conclusion. The only thing that matters now is happiness. Not productivity. Not perception. Not survival.

Happiness. That’s it.

It’s time we let it take the lead.

We’ve underestimated it in every aspect of life. We treat it like a distant cousin, invited only when things are going well, and forgotten the moment life gets loud. But happiness deserves a seat at the head of the table. It deserves reverence. It deserves strategy. And it deserves to be non-negotiable.

So here’s an offering. A transmission. A reminder.

I’m going to give you all of my happiness, or at least the pieces I can share. And I’m going to influence you to go get yours, like it’s oxygen, because it is.

To me, happiness is freedom. It’s whimsy. It’s dancing without planning to. It’s laughing so hard you forget why you were upset. It’s feeling safe in your own skin, without needing permission.

Happiness is a state of being that honors your worth with unapologetic joy. It’s the pair of jeans that know your body like a love letter. It’s a passport with too many stamps to count. It’s boarding a plane to the place you always said you’d go once you “figured things out.”

It’s leaving every room better than you found it.

It’s surprising people who underestimated you.

And it’s refusing to ever underestimate yourself again.

Happiness is not having it all together, and not using that as an excuse to stay small.

It’s being the only one brave enough to speak up. It’s rising to an occasion you didn’t feel ready for and realizing, you always were.

It’s working toward something meaningful and having the patience to keep going.

It’s letting go without apology.

It’s slow days, long baths, and no urge to post about it.

It’s no longer needing to prove people wrong.

Happiness is being with people who make you forget your phone exists.

It’s loving your family despite their chaos.

It’s moving like you belong somewhere, and knowing you do.

It’s that one song. You know the one.

The one that knows you.

The one that makes you feel like a kid again.

Happiness is our greatest fortune. And if we find it, if we truly let ourselves own it, no one is ever richer.

But here’s the truth.

Happiness is not easy to access in a world built to distract us. It hides behind the curtain of comparison, buried beneath the weight of unhealed grief, chained up by the myth that we have to earn it.

Sometimes it’s locked in the basement of our own minds, hostage to circumstances we didn’t choose.

But here’s the twist.

Happiness is also a weapon.

And when we wield it, loudly, fearlessly, defiantly, we become untouchable.

So please. Be happy.

Do not wait for the relationship, the salary, the weight loss, the apology, the green light, or the next chapter.

Don’t attach it to someone else’s approval.

Don’t hide it in the fine print of your goals.

Give it back to yourself. It was always yours.

And when you ride off into the sunset, let it be with the knowledge that happiness is not where you are going, it’s the horizon.

And as long as you can see it, you’re still on your way.

Written to The National on repeat.