Chapter 4: Finding Happiness

Dear reader,

Well look at you, aren't you looking great? :)

As you can probably deduce by the chapter cover of this post, today's article is all about finding happiness in your life.Though, be rest assured that I won't bore you with the details of my own love life, nor have you endure the cute and fluffy nuances of my everyday existence....

Oh fine, if you insist :D.

It was the summer of 2011 and the small market town of Buckingham had never looked more picturesque. The ducks had waddled out of the ponds to sun bathe by the river side, the Nigerians were walking around everywhere with their athletic bodies and perfect grace, making me feel like un-coordinated Magikarp (it's a Pokemon, look it up) and the university after eight thousand years was suddenly filled with the sound of theatre and drama.


This was because when I came to the the University of Buckingham there was no drama society. I spent an entire year lamenting over this fact (apparently I had other priorities--go figure) before deciding that I would do something completely out of my comfort zone. So I reinstated the Buckingham Arts and Theatre Society, which is still running today, and is doing mighty fine might I add. I became its President, neigh, dictator, because literally, I did everything myself. There was a committee but I had them all assassinated Gustapo style.

I stood on stage and commanded the Radcliffe Centre (the hall where the sessions took place) like a Middle Eastern monk. I say that I was Middle Eastern because I had recently come back from a holiday in Egypt and looked extremely dark. So dark that if I had a beard I would have looked like a biblical prophet. I was also wearing a white shirt that would support this theory. I had advertised by going to people's doors and inviting them, and on the first day we had around nine people. Now, this doesn't sound like a lot but believe me from the standing of the University of Buckingham this was like finding out you could fly. I couldn't have been happier with the turn out, and each week by word of mouth the number of people coming to my sessions grew.

On the second week, people arrived at various times during the session. Most of the people coming to the sessions were new students who started in July. She, the girl, was one of these starters. This is how I met her. The double doors of the Radcliffe Centre creaked open and I watched as a couple of people came waddling in. The first was a tall blonde haired guy who I remember meeting in the corridors of one of the dormitories, he was friendly and he looked cool, which made my session a little cooler. The other person was a girl (approximately half his height) and she was the strangest creature I have ever lay eyes upon. This may have been due to the fact that I couldn't really stop staring at her. She was beautiful. She had these incredible eyes and this insanely seductive voice. I had to wrench my attention back to my audience who applauded with me for their attendance (and haha, now that I think back to this it just shows how desperate I was for members :D ).

We went straight onto an improvisational drama game whereby I would invite the audience onto stage one by one. The game worked like this (my own creation and I take the credit completely :P ): I played the host of a giant party. The audience would stand on either side of the stage and would enter one by one, ringing a doorbell and joining me. I would meet and greet them and show them to the imaginary food and groovy music. This process would continue until there was no one standing on the sides, and the entire stage would be filled to the brim with chatting and mingling. I loved this moment. I saw how much people were enjoying it--the smiles and laughs on their faces and the great energy in the room: it reminded me of how much I loved drama and to the reasons I wanted to start the society in the first place.

There were a couple of rules to the game. Firstly, you had to go into the party with someone in mind who you had a crush on, and secondly you could not tell them. Again, a clever creation of mine which meant that conflict was almost inevitable (the crux of any good drama) and hilarity would naturally ensue because we had girls going for girls, and guys fighting over the same girl. I ended up breaking both of the rules in my game, and ultimately the most important rule in improv. The girl that I chose to have a crush on in the party was her. I took her hand and pulled her to one side, done my character flirt, smiled like a goof, and said to her with all of the energy in the room what my character would have said to hers, with the only difference being that I was being myself--I wasn't in character.

The next week we saw each other again and before I knew it, I couldn't stop. 21 months later and we are still together. It started with drama, and there has been drama in the relationship--ups and downs, places of euphoria and times of low but like every form of happiness-- it comes to you when you have beaten the odds, when you have overcome the obstacles and become better people. I took up the mantle of something I believed in and I was rewarded with meeting one of the most amazing people in my life to date. I adore this girl more than ever because she is a fighter, and by fighting she reminds me, and all of us about why happiness is so important and how you can find it in yourself.

This is the point of this article. As a person you can find happiness in everything--it is all around you. It does not necessarily have to be in a person. You can see it in everyone and you can feel it, and become it, if you really want to. Happiness is a choice that you can make now in a second, in an hour, or a day but it is a choice nonetheless between feeling love or living in fear. I chose love and I want you to as well. Falling in love is not something I can teach you, nor can the great enlightened wizards of our time. What I can teach you is to give into the opportunity to be happy whenever you can, so let your old pal Huli give you a few starting points to give you somewhere to begin.

1. It is a choice. I see people everyday who love to complain about their miserable existance, who pride on talking negatively about other people. Who love to hate and hate to love. This may be the most obvious, but many people experience this on minor and major levels. Stop the bitching and start the complimenting.

2. Stop drawing in negativity. Again, you really are what you do. Spending time watching soaps that proliferate sadness, arguments,  and how generally rotten life is will keep you low in a mindset. Stop spending time with people who make you feel down or annoyed, or people who talk about negative emotions. If you do positive things, helping yourself improve, help others, or even watch videos that make you happy than rather make you sad, you will feel a world of difference.

3. Exercise: go jogging every day as an example. It is free, it will make you lose weight, gain muscle, self respect, increase stamina, make you alert, improve your skin and above all--will release all stress and worry from your body. It will make you feel good about yourself, and again will bring you happiness because you are overcoming physical and mental obstacles.

4. Look to the brighter side of life: instead of dwelling on went wrong or what could have happened, think about how much you should be thankful for, be grateful above all for life itself and all of the pleasures and wonders that come with it.

5. Give back: make others happy and you will be the happiest. There is no better and quicker way to find happiness than to make someone else happy. If everyone knew and acted on this we would have a close to perfect world.

So there you have it :D. Go on, make me happy by liking this page and sharing it with your friends. Haha.
On a serious note, have a great day you sexy thing you, and always remember, happiness is a decision that you can make right now, and if you don't--I will make it for you. So, be happy. 

Have a great one :).