Anabel P.
Photography by Ashley Kung
If you're reading this, don't be afraid to be happy.
I know that happiness can be daunting. In the stories, you only find happily ever after when you’re a really good person, some sort of hero, or the kind of person with all the charm and good looks of a Hollywood star. It never really seems like happiness is for people like you or me - real people, regular people.
In real life, we’re all too aware of the unhappiness around us, from financial struggles to relationship problems, and happiness seems all the more foreign if you’ve struggled with mental illness like I have. Mental illness - like anxiety and depression - runs in my family, and I’ve experienced its symptoms since childhood. Having struggled with it throughout my life, I spent a long time thinking I could never be happy. I thought there would never be an escape from the dread and anxiety, or from the sullen misery depression brings. I had convinced myself that I didn’t deserve happiness, and that wanting it or seeking it would only cause problems.
If you’re reading this, you deserve to be happy. I deserve to be happy. We all do. If you’re having fun with friends and you’re suddenly insecure about your laugh, appearance, or place in your friend group - you don’t have to be. If you’re proud of a test score or grade, you don’t have to follow it up with thoughts of others having higher grades or taking more difficult classes. You don’t have to question and second-guess happiness in your life - you can just accept it and enjoy it. The thoughts may not disappear forever, but just because they show up doesn’t mean you have to give them the time of day.
Happiness isn’t about escaping unhappiness forever. Bad things happen. Things don’t go our way. But we can work on moving past these things in healthy ways. Therapy helped me re-frame many of my insecurities and issues, while medication helped raise my baseline from anxious and blue to a healthier neutral. Hobbies like walking and writing gave me things to think about beyond stress, and above all, my friends support me each and every day and remind me that I am wanted, loved, and cared about.
So if you’re reading this, don’t be afraid to find things that help you. Don’t be afraid to seek professional help, start a new hobby, or to have friends. Don’t be afraid to smile. You don’t owe anyone sadness, self-loathing, or hatred. Don’t be afraid to be happy.
Anabel P., University of Florida
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