Sometimes, it’s okay to be ridiculous. Do things that make you happy, even if they are ridiculous and only make you laugh because they are ridiculous. I love doing stupid and silly things.

I have a sloth pen case and a hot pink alpaca pen case because they make me laugh. I get ridiculously dressed up for holidays, including a red, white and blue tutu on 4th of July. I sing whatever songs pop into my head because singing always puts me in a better mood. I do things that make me happy.

I know this sounds ridiculous coming from someone who is 21, but I’m at a point in my life where I only try to do things that make my life better. This doesn’t mean that I’m going to like every single thing that I do, but the things that I don’t like are things that contribute to my future and whenever possible I’m doing things that make me smile.

Sometimes people shake their head when they see whatever my new hairstyle is (because I dyed my hair a total of eight times last year…five times in six months) or laugh when they see me dancing around as I leave the gym thanks to the music blaring out of my earbuds because I thought I was alone on the sidewalk. In the end though, most of the time when people are shaking their heads at me, they are also smiling or laughing.

One of the things that helped me past a dark place was being weird and kind, both of which always tend to have an effect on others. Some people get surprised when they see someone that is just too loud (I’m aware), and some people laugh when they see other people being themselves because it puts life into perspective.

The funny thing about life is that when you do things to make yourself happy, no matter how ridiculous or silly they seem, it can make it really easy to see other people smile too.