Don't Put Off Your Happy Life

I don't put too much stock in my horoscope but I do read it for fun.  On Wednesday this was my horoscope:

"If you woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, pretend that you had a restful night & woke up filled with inspiration & optimism.  If your mood is dark or gloomy for some other reason, then put on a smile anyway, & greet the day & all the people you meet with happiness & positive expectations.  You are holding the reins.  You have control over which direction this day takes you in.  It's time to recognize that you have far more power than you utilize."

I had a completely shitty day on Wednesday.  I was tired, I had a raging headache that made me feel so ill & wasn't helped by my students who were being overly obnoxious & loud, and then I was forced to sleep in the living room by a giant bug who decided to take up residence in my room & then hide himself.

But then, something happened, I woke up on Thursday morning & everything just fell into place.  

The second I got to work I ran down to the front office to see if they would approve me for a half day the day day before Thanksgiving break.  A new policy was put into place this year that no one is allowed to take a day off the Friday before a long weekend because subs are hard to find.  I knew it would be a long shot but the last flight out of Houston that day is 3:30 & I work until 3.  THEY ACCEPTED!  Now granted I don't need a sub because my last class that day ends at 12:40 & I promised to stay through then.  On top of that I don't even have to take a day.  I was told to just sign out & leave at lunch.

My kids were well behaved, all day, all of them!  It was a B day which meant that I had my least favorite class 2nd period...even they were well behaved.  I didn't have to yell at a single student all day long. It. Was. Magical.

I got home from work & instantly wanted to text Mr. Fireman.  I hadn't talked to him since Tuesday morning/afternoon & just wanted to talk to him.  I was also a little bored & considered inviting myself over to hang out.  However, I had promised myself Monday after I text him telling him to watch TWD already so we could talk about it...and he didn't respond for awhile (although he did end up texting me...& again on Tuesday)...that I wasn't going to be texting him until either a)Sunday so we could watch TWD together & possibly have him make me chili cheese dogs or b)he text me first because while I know he cares & is a guy, sometimes I feel like I am the only one putting in an effort on our friendship because I'm the one to text him 99% of the time.  SO, I didn't text him.  I decided that I would stay strong & came to terms with the fact that we probably wouldn't talk until Sunday.  Not 10 minutes later he text me.  We talked for a good hour straight & then talked off & on again throughout the rest of the night.

I decided to go to the grocery store on Thursday instead of Sunday because it's always a madhouse on Sunday & I figured I could get a head start on my meal prep...even if it only meant having all the ingredients I needed before Sunday.  It took me 3 trips to finally get pizza made that night.  First, I walked out of the store without pizza crust so I headed to Target.  I got home, cooked the chicken, preheated the oven, put everything on the pizza, & then realized I had no shredded cheese... but not even that could get me down as I headed back to the store for cheese.

I woke up again on Friday morning in a perfectly good mood & that's when a certain quote rang true.  

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters." - Epictetus 

I control my life.  I get to decide if I'm happy or not.  I get to decide from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed if I'm having a good or bad day.  Things happen in life that we can't always predict or control but we can control how we choose to react to them.

Me?  I choose to be happy no matter what happens.  Because just like a friend once told me back in the 7th grade...

"Everything will be okay in the end.  If it's not okay then it's not the end." - Paolo Coelho

Turns out my 12 year old friend was actually quoting a Brazilian writer...who knew?!

This revelation brought to me exactly 2 months to the day after I walked out of Mr. Fireman's house bawling my eyes out over our break-up...it's funny how much has changed in the past 2 months...