In middle school, my best friend and I loved laughing and smiling together.

Because of this, our other friends gave us the nickname:

“The Happy People.”

The nickname stuck.

To this day, I still have her name as “The Other Happy Person” in my phone.

We loved being happy together!

But do you want to know something funny?

It was MIDDLE SCHOOL!

I love middle schoolers, but I don’t think any of them are truly happy all the time.

I can think of plenty of challenging, dramatic, and emotional situations my friend and I endured as we figured out who we were in those tricky years.

But we had also figured out how to be “Happy People” during the tough stuff.

As an adult, I want to be more like Cali in middle school.

Dealing with the super dramatic while also remembering to have a fun time as much as possible.

Nephi himself said that “. . . we lived after the manner of happiness.” (2 Nephi 5:27)

And yet, I can point to many examples of Nephi’s personal life being less-than-awesome.

Many, many, many examples of the tough, dramatic stuff.

As an adult, I now understand that living after the manner of happiness is a lot more complicated than just having a smile on your face.

But at the same time, I think middle school Cali had a cool nickname to live up to.

I want to do my best to always be a “Happy Person”, living after the true manner of happiness and focusing on my Savior Jesus Christ.

And just like I figured out all those years ago, there is always joy to be found, no matter the situation.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

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2 Responses

  1. My mother was a happy person. Her nickname was Happy Mountain. She lived life and she loved everyone. She died at the age of 52 and her funeral was the largest attended funeral in Burbank California. She was an awesome example of living happy.

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