“Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” –Thoreau
After my divorce I was searching for anything that could bring some sort of happiness into my life. My identity had become so wrapped up in my marriage that without it I felt completely empty. I searched for anything that could alleviate the pain I was feeling. The harder I searched, the less I found, and the more frustrated I became. I felt like because of my divorce I was destined to be miserable.
I continued searching for months, until one day I realized that that happiness had to come from within before I could truly move on and find the happiness on the outside. My focus changed. Instead of searching for someone to make me happy, I found happiness inside myself. I started spending more quality time with Logan and I found that the happier I was, the happier he was; that alone brought me more happiness than I had felt in months of searching.
As I focused on me and my sweet son, I noticed that with each passing day I was healing a little bit more. I was finding joy in the things that were most important. Life doesn’t have to be perfect to find that little bit of happiness in it. There is joy in the journey. Some days are harder than others; some days you have to reach a little higher and try a little harder; but when you reach the top of that mountain and see the beauty around you all of the pain will be worth it because, finally, you will find that happiness sitting softly on your shoulder, both inside and out.