Stay on the Sunny Side

  Everybody has bad days.  It's a fact.  There are some days when nothing seems to go your way, and all you want to do is go home, lie on your bed, and eat chocolate while reading, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  Well, maybe that's just me.  The point is that every single person out there has times when they are feeling down.  One of the many difficulties of a bad day is figuring out how to cope with it.  Some people don't talk for the entire day.  Others shirk responsibilities.  Maybe some even read big books and eat chocolate. :)  For me, I do read and eat, but I also rant.  I will ramble on and on about every little thing that contributed to my bad day.  While it is a bad habit that I am currently working on, I still have my times when I forget, and I begin spouting out random nonsense in an irritated manner to my friends and/or family.
  I was talking with my mother the other day about how my day hadn't been as great as I had wanted it to, which then led to a discussion about how we can control out feelings and make the best of things in a bad situation.  Now, that is not to say that we should never be sad or sorrowful.  After all, how can one know happiness if they are never sad?  While it is okay to feel sad every once in a while, we should not sit around wallowing in our self-pity, waiting for something extraordinary to occur that will brighten our day.  That is not how life works.  While my whole week had felt awful, I realize now that I had done nothing to improve its quality.  I walked into each class with a scowl on my face, and made as little conversation as possible with my surrounding peers.  My dear best friend could tell that I wasn't feeling all that great, and she didn't pry.  However, every time she saw me, she would give me the biggest smile she possibly could, and would hold this big grin until I finally smiled back.  While it was a small gesture, it helped me get through the week more than she probably realizes.  She was constantly shining a ray of sunshine into my dark day.  I'm so grateful to her for her great example to me to smile, even if things aren't going according to plan.
  Her example has inspired me to look for the good things, especially if I'm feeling as if there are none.  She has showed me how to "stay on the sunny side".  I'm so grateful for my wonderful friends and their wonderful examples to me, and I hope that those of you who read this will try to look for the sunshine in your darkest times.  ~Sky