I believe, that if you smile long enough you become happy. Every weekday morning the alarm rings out a dreaded noise at 6:00am. I wake up and questioned  if today is going to be a good day. Then the quote my mom says repeats over and over in my head “you chose your mood”.

Once one steps foot into the front door of the school anything can go wrong. One wrong move, word, event can trigger a domino effect causing an outbreak of a bad mood.

That morning I was tired, upset, and unprepared for the test the teacher was passing out.

I  felt the nerves in my stomach twisting and turning. I tried my best the suppress them deep within.

The bell ringed letting out the mass of students into the hallway. I felt my face heating up and making unpleasant faces then spewing word of anger out to a friend.

After calming down I take the chance to stop and think about my thoughts from that morning “you chose your mood”.

Instantly a smile raised on my face. I could either worry about the problem or let it go and move on with my day.

As the hours passed by with the quote in mind I was happy to be at school and excited to see all my friends that I saw yesterday. After a while the quote stops repeating.

On the way home after school I reflected on my day from the first to last hour. Remembering that at one point of today something upset me which is followed by the question, what happened that was upsetting?

Quickly it flashes into my head of the situation. The test. The nerves. Automatically it all came flooding back. I described my problems to my mom detail by detail, she listens like a patient mom does.

Then a smile comes to my face mom looked at me with a confused look on her face. I can sense her confusion and  I tell her that I am doing what she taught me. I clarify that I was following her quote “you choose your mood.”

She looks at me almost with a sense of pride and love. That’s when I learned that if you smile long enough you become happy.