HABIT 5
GROWING UP
HAPPY
I am going through puberty, and it
isn’t going well. Please give me some
good advice I can use and be HAPPY.
—Lauren
Who’s Happy?
You are, of course, when-
ever good things happen.
In moments like these, you
know just what happy is:
It’s exclamation points!!!
It’s sunny and fizzy and
fabulous. It’s the kind of
feeling you wish could last
forever.
Me, with my prize-
winning chocolate-berry-
almond pancakes!
Our book bowl team got
(nearly) every answer right!
Mykel isn’t moving six states away after all!
Now that you’re getting older, though, you also know
that every day brings something different. Sure, there
are days you want in your scrapbook—amazing days
when everything goes right. There are easy days when
you feel relaxed and comfy in your own skin. But there
are also lots of days you’d love to crumple up and forget.
As you’re growing up, you may be discovering that
feeling great just isn’t possible all the time.
Here’s
the good
news . . .
Getting older means you
can start to think about
happy
in a new and
deeper way.
Learning New Steps
For a while now, experts have been studying what makes people
happy, deep down. One thing they know for sure is that being
happy isn’t only about having a lot of good things happen to you.
Happy has a lot to do with how you respond to what happens,
no matter what comes your way.
Happy is bouncing back when you’ve gotten knocked
down. It’s knowing that problems will happen and
feeling confident you’ll be able to deal with them.
Happy is feeling connected to the people
in your life—to friends and family, and even
to people you might not know very well.
Happy is accepting that
it’s normal not to feel
happy all the time, and
knowing it’ll pass.
In fact, happy’s not just something you feel.
It’s also something you do. It’s a bit like a
dance. And just like dancing, happiness has
steps you can learn.
Your Helpful Habits
How do you get ready for bed at night? Do you put on
your pajamas first or brush your teeth? Do you read for
a bit or turn out the light right away? Chances are, you
don’t pay much attention to these things. You just do
them. They are habits.
If you’ve ever struggled to stop nibbling your nails or
cracking your knuckles, you might tend to think of hab-
its as “bad.” Not always! Habits are all the things you do
each day without really thinking about them. Habits are
your brain’s way of taking shortcuts. Without them, you’d
have to think through every little thing you did. Your
brain would be worn out by breakfast!
Because your brain relies on habits
to guide you through your day,
habits influence everything from
how you eat to how you speak
and move. Habits even affect
what you think and how you
respond to what happens to you.
So, for something you
