I Didn’t Think There Would Be Sad Days In My Happily Ever After, But That’s Okay

I thought achieving the goal was the secret. That doing what you set out to do would make you happy, forever. I didn’t know that even fulfilling your dreams was no guarantee. That you could still be so sad some days.

I thought finding your soulmate would mean no more loneliness. That having a person love you with all their heart, and you loving them back, would mean you would always be content. I didn’t know that even the biggest love story would contain terrible days.

I forgot about balance. That we need rainy days to appreciate the sunny ones. That there would be no sunrise without darkness. That we need to be uncomfortable first in order to grow and become comfortable. That a life without pain is a life without feeling, and that’s really no life at all.

Nature dies in fall, sleeps in winter, and awakens in the spring. Nothing blooms forever, and neither can we.

Every life has slow phases, and low phases, and dark days. It’s part of life. It’s normal. It has to be that way. We can’t feel joy without also experiencing misery. There must be darkness to complement the light. 

But we are being taught that with the right body, the right hairstyle, the right lover, the right job, or the right accessory, we will be happy forever. We are being shown only the glittering highlight reels, with all the ugliness cropped and filtered out. We are being told over and over again that it’s our fault when we feel down for not doing life right. But hey, the solution is only one click away! Buy this, do that, and happiness will follow.

But that’s not how life works. 

Every happy ending will have sad moments. It’s normal. And you, dear stranger, are doing okay. Even on the days you are not. We are all okay.