Happiness Is an Inside Job
I often wish we could control all the things that influence our lives; but as I age, I have found that so much that affects us is out of our control. The only thing we can control is how we respond to situations.
I am naturally a happy person, but there have been times in my life when the happiness was sucked out of me. I found myself going down a deep hole and could feel my happiness slipping away. I got help and used all my support systems; I surrounded myself with happy people and started reading inspirational quotes at the beginning of every day. It was hard work and took commitment, especially since I wasn’t necessarily feeling happy while I was doing these things. However, even though I wasn’t conscious of it, after a while, I realized my happiness was returning. Now it is my default. I still cry, despair, grieve, and mourn, but those are not my default settings—HAPPINESS is my default.
In 2020, make happiness your default setting. Share with us some things you have used to keep happiness on the inside.
Yvonne M. Carroll, RN, JD
Director, Patient Services
Department of Hematology
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
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