Today is a Perfect Day

Today, someone asked me how my day had been. When I replied that it had been fantastic, he asked me why, and I had to think for a moment. Why was my day fantastic? Quite literally, nothing extraordinary had happened. I slept in so I didn't get the chance to shower, I went to class and didn't pay attention, I worked on my novel, made some muffins, went to work, went to class, went to a meeting... It was before the meeting when he asked me the question, and as I thought about my day, I really had no reason to be as happy as I was.

So why was I?

Optimism!

That's what I choose to write about today, seeing as I'm beginning to be a failure at blogging. This whole once a week think didn't really work out when school started up again. But that's okay! Because today is Tuesday, blogging day, and I am bloggin'.

Anyway, optimism. I am a firm believer that life is as good as you think it is, no matter what circumstances you might be in. Take me for example; I think the only reason things are so good for me is because I've told myself they're good. No matter how hard school gets--and I had some major stresses at the beginning of the semester--no matter how hard I have to try to talk to people--which I never liked doing--things are good.

Story time! You know how, in The Music Man, Harold Hill explains the "Think System"--think really hard about something, and you don't have to do anything else? Yeah, we're going to say that's how things really work sometimes. Before spring semester last year, I decided I needed to change. I had spent too much time sitting around in front of my computer and hanging around the edge of game nights just watching because I had always told myself I was too shy to really have any fun. But once I decided that needed to change, I just told myself I wasn't as shy as I thought, I didn't have to sit on the edge because I couldn't talk to people, and I was a person with good ideas that could be shared.

And now, if I were to go back to then and look forward at myself now, I would never believe it.

I tell jokes in front of complete strangers. I talk to boys. I engage in conversations even when I have no idea who I'm talking with. I play games like Ninja and actually win on occasion. I tell my roommates stories of boys I see and things I do. I take classes just for fun even though I know no one else taking those classes. I joke with professors. I actually enjoy tutoring and put in enough energy to show other students I really do want to be there. I do crazy things even if people might be watching. I take baseballs (though made of foam) to the face and simply laugh about it because I wish I could have seen myself when it hit me. I actually want to teach Relief Society and give talks in Sacrament Meeting. I talk to people like they're already my friends.

And all because I told myself I could.

Now, don't get me wrong. This isn't me trying to talk about how awesome I am. I'm just trying to explain how good life can be if you let it. It doesn't matter how many things go wrong, like a wet bike seat in the rain or a store that closes just before you get there. As long as you tell yourself there's a funny side to the story, there's a good side to it, there's something you can learn, it'll be a good day.

I think I finally understand something my dad told me a couple Thanksgivings ago as we sat on Top of the World.

"Every day is a perfect day."