There it is. It happens before you have a chance to think about it, to process it, to understand. You react without intention. But there it is. Sliding across your social feed is another smiling face, a giddy memory, a bright flash of someone else’s happy life.

A quick snap, “Really, again?” A fleeting thought, “I hate her.” A bitter moment, “Why the fuck do I care that she’s happy?”

Why should you care? Why should you care that a person like me, or a girl from college, or your neighbor down the street has found consistent happiness? Well, because for someone like me, that happiness is a pretty new thing. It’s a pretty BIG new thing.

For a long time I thought, “this is as good as it gets.” Yes, I had a good life and there were great bundles of greatness that whirled around, but I couldn’t seem to capture and keep them. I couldn’t keep the consistency.

But once you do…once you taste it…you want nothing else. Unbridled happiness brings purpose. Authentic purpose stirs passion. Pure passion guides everything. It infiltrates and decides my friends, my love life, my obsessions, my career, my everything. It forces positivity and quells a busy mind.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not like it’s all perfect. I still have a litany of things that make me crazy. I now live a life of seemingly crooked complications. I can still let people pull me into their tailspins. But the happiness prevails. And when you have it? You crave it, you crave it, you crave it. You want to share it. You want others to grab it, and to get it. To keep it. That’s why it matters.