Is it ok to be happy right now?

Walking through life consciously choosing how you want to feel, regardless of what’s happening around you, strengthens your faith and certainty. – Gabby Bernstein

Today I listened to a podcast conversation that begged the question:  Is it ok to be happy right now?  The conclusion was yes.  It is ok to see bright spots, to have levity in one’s life and indeed to be happy. Permission granted.  

I have struggled in the past season to “be happy.”  I’ve written about that enough.  I was just emerging out of a down fluctuation as the health pandemic set in.  Yikes I thought.  The changing business needs kept me busy in problem solving mode at first, but I crashed in week two.  I retreated as allergies, asthma, and anxiety took hold.  I tried not to feel, but it didn’t work.  

So I panicked.  I screamed.  I cried.  And I reached out.  Turns out leaning into all the crap helped me wake up and chose differently.  

By the end of week three and into now, I am choosing a path of happiness.  It’s a funny feeling, to be happy right now when everything outside of me is hard, uncertain, sick, and sad.  What to do with that?

As I sat just now, I placed by my side the books of two women that have given me faith and power. Gabby Bernstein gave me the opening quote.  Her words remind me I alone can change my narrative.  And Glennon Doyle’s words to be a wild, untamed cheetah, are giving me courage to feel it all.

Don’t turn away. Be sad.  Be worried. Be angry.  Be confused. Be all the things.  Even happy.