Unfortunately, I don’t know how many people make it their business to be nice to others, but it makes me really happy when I see others attempt and achieve in their attempts to put a smile on people’s faces.

As of recent, I decided that my only concrete life goal was to be uncontrollably and truly happy. As is the same with most adolescents I assume, I had no idea of what I wanted to do or be or how I wanted to grow. I had realised that after being a teenager for a few years that it was enough and that I really disliked the stress, responsibilities and the generally insecure period of life. It was gross and it got worse as I got older- more stress and more responsibilities and more expectations and more problems. It became okay though because I promised myself that I’d make it through happy, which I did.

It’s easy to tell someone to ‘just be happy’, but for a lot of people, teenagers especially, it’s really never that simple. It’s understandable that people take the approach where we urge people to seem happy without actually giving them reason to be. I think that’s where we all fall short as friends, other halves and family. We should want to spend an extra two or three minutes to find out why our loves are sad, to try and understand. After those few minutes are over, you should help. Just not in your own way. Something that many people need to understand is that people heal in their own ways and in their own time. Helping someone be happy is about throwing yourself into their healing process and adapting to their needs. If someone needs time to heal alone, their isolation is crucial to their improvement. If you’re serious about helping someone and that someone needs constant attention and telling of their worth, you sacrifice your time and effort to tell them how vital their existence is to your universe. Attempting to make others happy, or giving them reason to smile is a goal that everyone needs to aspire to.

On my way home last week, the cutest old lady got on the bus. Before I could get up to let her have my seat, a sweetheart of a gentleman had walked down the bus to hold hands with her and help her sit down in the seat next to him. Me being the soppy romantic that I am, I nearly started to cry at the chivalry. I turned down my music and took a cheeky earphone out to listen to the pair of them. They were talking about a dancing class that they both coincidentally go to and how special their grandchildren are to them. By this point, I was having to hold back little ‘AW!’ sounds. I’d never seen or heard such unadulterated happiness and gratitude, and all it had stemmed from was a random act of kindness. There’s nothing better than the feeling of being genuinely happy with yourself, your surroundings and with others and when you settle knowing and accepting that, you’ll be incomprehensibly happy.

It seems weird to say in an article but I hope you’ve smiled today. If not at this slice of the magazine, at something funny, at the fact that the sunrise was pretty this morning. Whatever makes you happy and whatever you can do to make others happy, I hope you treasure. Let your happiness and the happiness of others be what keeps you safe; it’s your anchor.

‘There’s nothing more rewarding than someone you love emitting inescapable radiance and you being the reason for it.’