Don't waste a minute not being happy. If one window closes, run to the next window- or break down a door. — Brooke Shields

Don't waste a minute not being happy. If one window closes, run to the next window- or break down a door.

Author: Brooke Shields

Insight: We're oddly trained to treat happiness like something we'll get around to later—after we finish this project, after things settle down, after we prove something. But happiness isn't a reward at the end of the tunnel. It's something you're either cultivating now or not, and the minutes you spend waiting really do add up into a life. The practical part of this quote matters most: when one thing stops working, the instinct to wallow is strong. That job ends, the relationship ends, the plan falls apart. But Shields is pointing at something almost aggressive about moving forward. You don't sit in the dark room staring at the closed window. You notice it's closed and you look for the next opening. Sometimes that opening is obvious and nearby. Sometimes you have to make one yourself—which is just another way of saying you have permission to be creative and bold about your own life. What's slightly unsettling but true: nobody's coming to hand you happiness on a better timeline. The break-down-a-door part isn't metaphorical advice to be reckless; it's saying that sometimes the barrier between you and what you actually want is thinner than you think. It just takes deciding you're worth the effort.