Do Not Dwell

As most of you know already, I have been on the quest for happiness for as long as I can remember. I seem to catch glimpses of it and then it fades and things go dark again. Lately I have been trying to hold onto those glimpses. I have found myself actually realizing how happy I was that day. It comes and goes but I am trying not to dwell on the bad things that happen each day. It is not easy to let go of things for me. I don't let things roll off my back as quickly as I should. I came to the realization of how true that was about me while I was helping a customer at work.
It had been an average day at work. I had been working on the computer like I do every day when a customer came in. I helped him find what he was looking for and started to ring him up. I ran his card just like I had done a thousand other times that day when the computer froze and the transaction failed. I apologized and called my boss in to see if he could help me out. Unfortunately I had to restart the computer and ring the customer up all over again. The computer took longer than expected and the customer had been waiting patiently, but I was unsure how long that patience would last. I was getting very frustrated and felt bad that I was keeping the man form the other things I am sure he had to attend. I kept apologizing in an effort to make it right. The man looks up at me and says "If this is the worst thing to happen to me all day, then it has been a great day."
I laughed at that because of how true that is. Whenever something goes wrong in my day I tend to dwell on it and let it take over the rest of my day. I did that just today actually. I was in a wonderful mood and the day had been filled with laughter. I was helping a customer when he started to get frustrated with me. As that man left the store I was in a foul mood and I no longer wanted to be at work. I wanted to just go home and sleep for the rest of the day. It was unbelievable how quickly my mood changed and how I instantly thought that the whole day had been awful. I was disappointed in how I let one bad thing take over the whole day.
Those two men also taught me another wonderful lesson. They taught me that I can only be as happy as those I surround myself with. I have unconditional support and love from those around me and I couldn't be more thankful. Not too long ago I had started spending my time with an individual who was unhappy and thought that only bad things happened to him, nothing good would ever come his way. I found myself thinking those same thoughts while I was with him. My mood would instantly change the moment we were together. My roommates, bless their hearts, had to deal with that for way longer than they should have. I would always get grumpy when I went to see him and I would return home even more so. However, on the days where I did not see this individual I was happy and back to being "my old self."
I have learned more than I could ever imagine in the past year. I have learned that happiness is not given. It is taken. I have to strive to be the happy person I so earnestly want to be. If I do not change the bad in my life, it will eat at me and eventually the happiness will be gone forever. I am not entitled to anything I do not work for. I am only 20 and life is hard. I am not perfect. I am sure there are many more life lessons I will stubble upon through this journey, but I look forward to the happiness that is sure to follow.