“Happiness: Giving a Middle Finger to the World”

Stick it up! Show it to the people around you with a smile. It is the longest finger for a reason right? it is like we are genetically designed to use it.

In all seriousness, I never actually flick people off unless I have a couple glasses of wine. Literally sticking your middle finger up will probably make you feel good for a second and giggle. Or make you question why you even read this blog.

I mean it in a metaphorical sense.

We are constantly handed ideas about how we should live our lives. These notions are supposed to make you happy. Society has been handing us a script and directions since the day we were born.

As children we (ingeniously) ignore these directions. We can be anything we want to be. Then the day comes when we are scolded so badly for coloring outside of the lines, we never do again.

The expectations we are handed affect everything we do, from the things we want to buy, to the jobs we choose, to how many kids we want to have, down to what we say, think and even feel.

When I was in college, so many girls wore the same outfit that it seemed like we had a designated uniform. I know for a fact that some of these girls hated wearing the clothes but did so (and spent $$$) in order to fit in.

How many guys do you know that want to have hobbies that are “girly”? I know more than a few guys who really like to watch Gossip Girl. There are even guys out their who like to cross-dress in women’s underwear.

But we ignore and hide what we want and go through the expected motions. We smile at the right times and say the “right” things because we are afraid to go off script. We are nice to people we hate, we pick the boring career that will give us the most money, we get married to the first person who says yes and have children we did not know we wanted.

That metaphorical middle finger is to society that expects us to follow their manual and guidelines. The middle finger is to what other people think is best for us. The middle finger is to what they think we should want.

You will be happiest if you just stay true to what you really want and feel.

Happiness is a metaphorical middle finger away.