We don’t need to suffer to give our lives meaning. Sounds weird, but we sometimes use suffering as a metric for how well we live and how much we love.

But we don’t need to suffer to prove our love or justify our joy. It’s always okay to be happy no matter what happens – good or bad.

So, let’s not use our ailments, dark memories, or life events as emotional crutches. And let’s not feel ashamed of our happiness because there is so much turmoil throughout the world.

Instead, let’s transform the energy we use for suffering into something useful, something joyful, something inspirational, so that others may learn to let go of the need to suffer, too.