I am that kind of person who is trying so hard to always stay happy no matter how rough things get in my life. Just like this proverb says, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

It’s always easier said than done though. There is always that unpredictable event, happening over and over, that eventually makes happiness seems impossible. And here is one good example how hard it is to have just one happy day when life throws you a lot of lemonades in a row.

A few weeks ago, I was so excited to finally have a few days off from work. It’s not that I hate my job, it’s just that I’ve been working very hard in the past 6 months. Not to mention it was my first vacation after starting my new job with my current employer. I was hoping that upcoming long weekend would be able to recharge my energy.

The day before my vacation went smoothly in the beginning. I woke up early, almost finished packing my clothes to my luggage, I had a great morning laughing with my colleagues, and I also had a very delicious lunch at Fish & Co with some of them. And then after that decent lunch, something annoying happened to me.

My colleagues and I left Senayan City heading back to the office after having that delicious lunch at Fish & Co. We took a taxi; just one taxi for 5 of us. It was wrong, I know, but I thought it should be fine as long as we paid more to the driver (I already planned to pay him two times the meter). I just wanted all of us to go back to the office immediately and that one taxi was the only option we had that noon.

Apparently, the driver was not happy having 5 passengers in his cab. He could just say it out loud and clear, but he decided to harass us with inappropriate jokes instead! He asked one of us to sit on his lap, repeatedly. I was so angry I decided not to say a word. I really wanted to pullover and left that cab but then it would make the situation even more awkward for my team. So I could only stay silent in that cab and apparently, that driver was not happy with my silence (I sat on the front seat, right next to him). That impolite driver asked me over and over why I stayed quiet but of course, I stayed quiet anyway. When we arrived, I handed over the money, I slammed the door, and I walked away.

I told myself, “This should NOT ruin my good day!”

I spent the next few hours in the office hoping that I could go home early that day (by early, I meant 6 PM sharp instead of a long night like I usually had). Right at 6 PM, I packed my bag and I went home… still feeling excited for my upcoming trip!

But then another lemon was thrown at me. Just a few seconds after I sat on the cab that was taking me home, I received a phone call that made me realize that I was just trapped in a very difficult position between two groups of people who were equally important to me. I spent the next two hours on the phone, I let the food I ordered online got cold, and all that I could do that night was just escalating their problems to some other people whom I know for sure could handle that problem better than I did.

I felt a bit relieved and I continued eating my cold noodle quickly so that I could finish packing my clothes to my luggage. I was still very excited to go on with my family trip, imagining that I was gonna meet my nephew and niece very soon, but then again, life threw me another lemon that night.

Someone texted me and I instantly knew another bad thing just happened to me. Just like before, I was trapped in another difficult position that night. I tried to help, but then this person who texted me ended up scolding me just because I stood up for the person he hated. He asked me through his texts to take side and I just couldn’t take his side because the way I saw it, he was the bad guy in that office war. He was upset and he told me all the things he should never say to me in the first place. I started to get angry, he started to get panic knowing that I was upset to him, he called me over the phone, and he said he was sorry for saying all those things to me in his texts.

After that phone call, I told myself, “Life threw me a lot of lemons just in a day!” Just three horrible events in a day, but they were way more than enough to kill all the joy and excitement I felt inside. The phone calls have stopped but I just knew that all those problems had not been totally resolved that night. Soon after coming back from my trip, I would be coming back to all those uncomfortable situations. It was such a buzz killer, wasn’t it?

With that being said, no matter how angry and upset I was, it was totally wrong if I let my bad mood ruin the whole trip. I didn’t want to make my families felt uncomfortable with my bad mood. It was none of their fault anyway. So there I chose to ignore all those problems for a while and I’m so glad that I did that! It was definitely one of the greatest trips I’ve ever had! Nice hotel, great foods, decent pictures to come home with, and not to mention, I got to spend a great time with my big families all over that long weekend! It was that kind of trip that made me feel even more grateful for all I have.

Life will always give us reasons to be upset and sometimes, we don’t even have any control over it. Troubles could just happened out of nowhere and even a total stranger can ruin our good days too. No matter how well we’ve been doing, s**t happens anyway. But well, no matter what happens, stay happy anyway. If the options are between having problem and get depressed or having problem and stay happy, I will always be more than happy to choose the latter one. Always.