Abraham Maslow once said, “If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life.” You have to think happy to be happy. If you want to achieve something great, you need to think greatly. I believe to be happy in life, you must think happy.
Throughout almost my entire life, I’ve been a happy child. I absolutely loved bathing, sleeping, eating or whatever it was that my parents made me do; I wasn’t unhappy often. Yeah, I was a young child and I was bound to get upset from time to time, but I never was one to cry over spilled milk or the fact that I didn’t have as many cookies as I wanted.
My dad was and still is my biggest influence and guide on how to live an extraordinary life. He used to always say “You’re the only person who can ever make yourself truly happy and that’s by thinking happy.” He kept saying “happy,”. “Happy, happy, happy.” I thought I would get sick of the word eventually, but to this day, I’m so grateful that he instilled this belief into me. You won’t be happy in life unless you believe you are happy.
My father told me that if I wanted something specific to happen, I needed to visualize it in great detail and truly believe it will happen. I thought he was full of bologna until one day I decided to try it out for myself. I had a showcase tournament coming up for soccer which meant tons of college scouts would be watching my team and me. The night before, as I was laying in bed, I pictured myself playing the first game of the weekend. I knew I’d foul a girl and cost my team a goal against us, I knew I’d make a beautiful corner kick that would put my team in the advantage, and I knew I’d score the most flawless game winning goal ever.
The next day, the minute I stepped on the field, I went over everything I wanted to happen in my head again and again. My heart raced, not the usual pre-game nervous kind of way, but more of the “I know this is going to be good” sort of way. I could see everything in slow motion. The way the girl playing left wing was screaming at me to cross the ball, the sight of blood from the girl I fouled, the sound of my foot making contact with the ball and even down to the tightness of my socks that I envisioned.
Once the game started, and I could smell the freshly cut grass under my hot blue cleats, sure enough, everything went just as I had hoped for. I was so thrilled and shocked, I couldn’t believe it. I then noticed that the scout standing on the sideline, along with three others from my ideal schools, didn’t approach me. I couldn’t understand why, I played one of my best games ever. I soon realized that not once did I ever visualize myself being “picked up by a scout”. I was too focused on how well I was going to play that day and didn’t think twice about the most important part. I believe that if you want to be great, you have to think greatly.
In my day to day life, I do my best to think as positively as I can. But, I am a human and I still have to allow myself to grieve, be mad, or just be confused. I’ll admit, I’ve fallen off course a few times. I’ve grieved, been upset and confused, but I’ve gotten back up. I always manage to think happy, which ultimately leads to a life of success and greatness.
I believe that if you strive to think about positive things and how they will impact your life, you will be shocked; you won’t believe the things you can achieve. From personal experience and seeing my own father lead a life of joy and perseverance, I think anyone can do what they want in life. It doesn’t matter if you’re a homeless man or woman on your last dollar or a man or woman with everything they could ever want in life; you won’t be your happiest unless you think your happiest thoughts.
