juice juicery, fake fakery, & shit

If happiness is a goal, it leaves out most people in the world from feeling achieved. The idea that we should be happy does not take into account the true reality of many people and their lives. The notion that we should strive for happiness actually ends up making people feel shittier about themselves. Positivity is a lie for many people because there’s not a lot to be positive about. Poverty is real, lack of access to resources is real, ecological destruction is real. On social media, all we see is everybody’s vacations, personal hygiene routines, and overly complicated protein shake recipes. All that fancy juice-juicery can make us feel worse when we can’t find our keys for the fifth time that day. Most of us have diarrhea once a week, gas daily, headaches hourly, and back acne constantly. Why do we pretend that everyone’s skin is smooth and creamy? It is not. I have had to look at my own hatred of imperfection, in myself and others. For a long time, I fake loved the brown spots on my face, my growing menopausal belly, and the extended length of time it now takes me to leave the house for a simple trip to the grocery store. I told myself I loved these imperfections, but my fake-fakery was a lie. I don’t love them, and so I am part of the problem. America hates aging women, and it hates the poor and the sick even more. Is it wrong to believe that happiness is not a cure, but the disease itself? Is there any good in befriending the shit of life? I will start by befriending my own shit. Weekly diarrhea and I have a standing date.