Warning: Dogmatic and Preachy. And Honest. And some may find the conclusion filled with bullshit. This isn’t for them. It’s for you.

Let me tell you a story about a girl who has fallen down seven times and gotten up eight. I mean she’s probably not returning to upright without a torn pant leg or dirt on her ass, but she’s back up. Sometimes she reaches out for an outstretched hand, trying to ignore the stifled chuckles from the rescuer (the carpet was really bumpy, right?) Anyway, this story is about how she got back to a place she forgot existed—that happy feeling. That two red wines, please, and I’ll-sing-in-public feeling that lights us all up inside and we take on the next day with a clandestine smile only our inner rockstar-self knows why it’s there. Yeah, she got back there. Strike that. She created There. Slowly but surely, year after year of lessons and loss and doubt. She doesn’t always stay there. She strays. She’s serious sometimes, just to be on the safe side. Makes her appreciate the good times, right? Or maybe it just gives her a relatable story to tell because let’s face it, Life, it’s so simple, but feels so complicated. We exist, thus we should live. But we overthink everything right down to the our hair (‘leave the gray?’), our nails (‘square or rounded?’), pants or shorts (‘how about short pants?’), the brand of our vitamins (‘for what?! To extend this blissful existence?’). It is so filled with choices no wonder we stumble and get all persnickety contemplating a permanent life surviving buddy (some would call this a partner, spouse, special friend, etc). What all these decisions really come down to is this, they bear the weight of one quest, one question: Will this bring me happiness?

Well, the girl with torn skinny jeans (not in the trendy way. The real meaning of ripped. She falls a lot), with carpet burn on her left cheek(s), half a cup of coffee in her mug, the other half on her white, of course, blouse challenges you to instead ask yourself: Is this happiness? Right now. Is this happy? Not, Will it get you there? Not could it develop into something more fantastic. Not once this happens then I can/will be happy. Not, once I build this happiness will come. NO! That’s not getting any of us out of our own minds or suffocating dreams of something better in the future. We are right now. We are living in this moment.

The girl who has made so many mistakes wants you to know that the only way to live is to laugh at the carpet burns, not try to prevent them. Stop worrying about the blouse, it’s just fabric and Tide makes some really fantastic chemically stuff that’ll no doubt get it in shipshape. It’s okay to cry a little bit too. Carpet burns hurt. But move away from the drama. Drama isn’t real—it just exists when it’s created. Stop making decisions about what will be best down the road and just ask: Is this happy? Blissful all-the-time Being is likely not going to be the modus operandi but, you know, are you good? And the answer can totally be No. That’s okay (that’s the point, really. Figure out what you need). You have to figure out if you’re happy now. Because, that clumsy girl will tell you unhappiness follows you everywhere. She got her self roped into a series of If Onlys and Once This dreams that she totally freaking forgot that she was alive.

She’s not necessarily promoting an Eckhart Tolle Power of Now existential shift . . . Just a pay attention to if you’re using your to-do list and dreams to distract you from what you’re doing right now. Because you might be okay as is. Or you might be on your way down to meet the carpet with your nose. And those dreams might be coming true right now, in each horrible or wonderful or mundane moment. So that girl who falls and gets back up says turn up your favorite song take a moment each day to make your inner karaoke star smile. And if that beautiful moment happens to occur at a busy traffic intersection with your pal Ice Cube busting out his poignant ditty “It Was A Good Day” and you might have forgotten your passenger window was down, all the way down, then own it with a big grin. That’s life.