Since childhood, we've been taught to be patient, to be grateful for little, not to ask for more. They said: "Look how much worse it is for others" — and we learned to compare and keep quiet. Happiness has become something like a gift that "others" receive — those for whom everything works out easily. And us? It's as if we don't fit into this scenario.
Over the years, this turns into an attitude: "I'm not supposed to." You're not supposed to be happy without a reason. You're not supposed to choose yourself. We're not supposed to just be happy - without guilt, without explanation, without permission. We even push joy away when it suddenly appears. As if we don't believe we have the right to it.
But here's what I realized:
Happiness is not a reward. And not a privilege. It's the norm. Yours. Mine. Everyone's.
We don't have to be unhappy to be worthy of love or respect. We don't have to earn the right to joy through suffering.
No one will come and say: "Now you can. Be happy."
We have to tell ourselves this.
You don't have to suffer.
You can be happy just like that.
You can be happy.
And it's not a luxury. It's yours.