When I’m walking under a moonlit sky, it’s just me and the night, and the moon is a perfect sliver hovering above like a guidepost, I’m choosing happiness.

 

And when I remember I’m just a tiny speck in the cosmos of the universe, and feel simultaneously important and insignificant, and the endless night stretches out before me like a web of darkness, I’m choosing happiness then, too.

 

In the times I’m alone, and it’s just me against the world, I’m choosing happiness. And when I wake up to a new day, and the sun is casting shadows on the walls, I’m choosing happiness all over again.

 

I’m choosing happiness because happiness hasn’t always chosen me, at least not outright. It’s popped up here and there, before disappearing for long stretches of time.

 

I’m choosing happiness because I know deep down that I do, in fact, already have a thousand good reasons to be happy. So I’m choosing happiness for all those times that feeling has escaped me.

 

When I realise the fragility of life, I’m choosing happiness. And when I contemplate life being delicate and unpredictable, beautiful and fleeting — I’m choosing happiness, because the alternative is far too hard to even consider.

   

When life becomes poetry and there is a hidden soundtrack backing even the most mundane tasks, I’m choosing happiness. When the rhythm of life moves me into a new way of being, happiness becomes a layer of that music, woven into the beat — natural and ever present — I’m choosing happiness then, too.

 

I’m choosing happiness for all the people who feel they have none — no freedom of choice and no inkling of happiness.  For those who feel lost in the corners of their confinement, for anyone who feels there is no way out. I’m choosing happiness for them, so that one day, when they are ready, they can choose happiness for themselves, too.

 

I’m choosing happiness because I want people to know that although they may feel stuck, there is always something bright on the horizon. Nothing lasts forever, not even the darkest of nights, so I’m choosing happiness as a symbol of their strength — and I’m choosing happiness as a symbol of mine.