Batteries Not Included

It was like we were stripped of happiness at birth, like an electronics device without batteries. Happiness has to be bought separately, straight away if you want to function properly, or you can sit on a shelf and gather dust until someone slots something into the small space in the back of your head, right into your hypothalamus where all the feel good neurons are. Suddenly you are working at full potential. You are laughing without having a cause to laugh, you have patience and empathy, and you have the ability to feel without thinking. They say people only use 10% of their brains, that’s because we spend our whole lives trying to find the missing pieces. Like a jigsaw with gaps, nothing will fit but the manufactured piece. My granddad use to cut out small bits of cardboard and keep them under the kitchen worktable and I use to draw on them knowing that I will get told off, but I knew he secretly wanted me to draw on them, he would always laugh at my silly pictures. Now I sit and wonder where those days went. Where I was a child and love came easy and hugs felt safe and my grandparents were my best friends. The smallest things made me content and the big things were brushed under the carpet where they did not bother me anymore, as long as my granddad let me feed the birds in the back yard everything was cool.


Happiness isn’t what somebody can give you, happiness is something that is always with you. Happiness is not a battery or a jigsaw piece that life hands to you when you are ready. True everlasting happiness is something you suddenly realised you were carrying all along, like finding something in your suitcase that you thought you forgot to pack only to find it on the last day of your holiday. Happiness is a peace of mind. Happiness is finding your balance. Happiness is going through shit and stress and crying and screaming but then finding your centre with gentle persuasion. Happiness is remembering all the things you had which have made you the person you are today. Happiness is appreciating all the things you have right now. Happiness is accepting and moving on. Happiness is learning. Happiness is hurt. Happiness is your birth right.