How to Be Happy?

By Prisha Budhiraja
Class 10 Student, Delhi Public School, R K Puram, New Delhi

Foreword by Venkat
A knife is a weapon to hurt, a means to protect, a tool to cut open and a part of cutlery for food – all in one. Our outlook on incidents, circumstances and people is no different. It all depends on how we use it. Prisha’s beautiful narration beams a powerful message – of looking at problems positively as challenges and not as helpless obstacles. The incidents she shares bring clarity to the message. Wonderful writing with words of wisdom at such a young age. Wishes and blessings to the budding writer!

A wonderful article garnished with heart-warming anecdotes serving an inspiring message!

How to Be Happy?

“How to be happy?” I’ve heard people say that millions of times. The truth is, there’s no magical pathway or a rulebook or guide to being happy. If you’re thinking “If only I didn’t have so much going on in my life/so much work to do/so much drama, I’d be happy”, you’re very wrong.

A delivery person just came and dropped off some snacks I ordered. My grandmother answered the delivery and told off the delivery person for not giving us our supplies in a carry bag. Rather, he was taking it out of his personal bag and handing it over to us.

My grandmother was a little upset and told the guy to bring a carry bag the next time. I was standing right there behind her and said “Grandma!” in a ‘please-stop-you’re-embarrassing-me-way’. She continued telling the guy off, and I just embarrassedly smiled at the guy, in a ‘sorry-she-doesn’t-get-how-this-works-way’ and he smiled back at me understandingly.

He forgot to bring a chocolate I had ordered, so I asked him about it, and the guy said it wasn’t in the delivery list. I told him to wait a second while I checked, but i couldn’t find it. So I told him it was alright, and he offered to go and get it again. I smiled and thanked him, but politely refused.

The guy walked down the stairs and disappeared. A few minutes later, I was finally able to check the order and I realized I had ordered the chocolate from another place and it was scheduled to arrive a couple minutes later. I ran down the stairs to see if the guy was still there, to let him know he hadn’t missed anything.

I saw him standing by his bike, staring at his phone with a confused expression on his face. I looked down at his phone and saw him checking the order. My order. I told him what I had found out, and apologized for the misunderstanding. The fact that he was so concerned over one order delivery, that he was so nice, made me smile.

Another time, I was upset with my mum and I was kind of just sitting there and sulking. Then our house help walked in and waved and smiled at me. We have this thing going on where we always greet each other and talk while she works. Her simple gesture made me smile and get out of my sulky mood.

So what I’m trying to say is, you don’t need a reason to be happy. You can find happiness in little things. And it won’t always be served to you on a golden platter. You have to CREATE your own happiness.

If you always keep counting all the things that have gone wrong for you, or how there are just so many problems in your life, you can’t be happy. Ever heard of making ‘a mountain out of a molehill’? That’s what happens when you stress over tiny things or keep thinking about how difficult life is. Instead, why not focus on finding a solution?

We all have had our own share of problems and bad experiences, some more than the others. But it is still up to us whether we look down upon our problems and see how many we have and how hard our life is, or to be strong and think about all the times we have dealt with difficult situations in the past, and how this time is no different, and find the strength to take on the challenges head-on.

Everyone faces issues. If we all just decide to sit down and start counting everything which is messed up in our lives, we could go on and on about it forever. But it doesn’t really change anything, does it? Maybe you’ll find more people who love to complain about their problems, but is that what you really want? Or do you want to be happy, to do what you love, to move on with your life?

The choice is yours. When life tosses problems at you, treat it like a challenge, not like an obstacle or a roadblock. Because it’s all about how you view it.

If you take it on like a challenge, you WILL find a way around it and you WILL be able to move on from it. Think about when one of your friends challenges you to something. There’s something inside of you which keeps you going till you’re successful, isn’t there?

So take on all the problems in your life like small challenges. Smile through and despite your problems, because IT’S ALL ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK.

Happiness is selfless. It comes from what you do for others. Do something nice for someone who needs it and watch how it brings a smile to their face. And yours.

By Prisha Budhiraja
Class 10 Student, Delhi Public School, R K Puram, New Delhi

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