Contentment

 These days happiness is the rage. 

How do I found it? Where can I buy it? What self-help thing must I do to acquire it?

As a recovering masochist, I can tell you that happiness isn't consistent. In fact, the idea that we are supposed to be jolly more often than not is weird. Even though these days I've traded in my pessimism for realism, I often feel the tug of optimism. 

I do believe in miracles and hard work and dedication. Even the poorest, most subjugated people have risen up and become spectacular successes. But did they do it by means of toxic optimism, or did they do it because they stared the ugliest things square in the face and dealt with the darkness?

Are you willing to fight the beasts in order to see what potential lies beyond?