Something Like Happy by Eva Woods

When Eva Woods started seeing her social media feeds flooded with "100 Days of Happiness" posts, she was intrigued. She claims she is not a naturally positive person, but the concept made her curious about our ability to make ourselves happy. This curiosity led her to write Something Like Happy in which we meet Annie and Polly. Annie has had a difficult couple of years and Polly is about to have three very hard months. Polly has been diagnosed with an aggressive and incurable brain tumor. When she stumbles upon Annie, to her a stranger, struggling to get paperwork for her ailing mother, Polly ropes her into a happiness experiment. Annie has no intention of falling in with this crazy person dressed in every color of the rainbow, and yet before long she finds herself unable to say no. Polly's determination leaves no one able to refuse her and her "cancer card".

"I want to show it's possible to be happy and enjoy life, even if things seem awful. Did you know that , after a few years, lottery winners go back to the exact same levels of happiness as before they won? And people in serious accidents do, too, once they've adjusted to their changed lives? Happiness is a state of mind, Annie."

Annie has her own problems and Polly is quick to acknowledge that Annie has every right to be unhappy, she just doesn't want her to be stuck that way forever. Imagine finding exactly the friend you need exactly when you need her. That is what happens to both of these characters. They do wonderful, silly, even important things in the short time they have together. I loved this quote:

"You know, I wish I'd eaten cake every day of my life. All those salads and goji berries I choked down, and I'm going to die at thirty-five, anyway. What a waste, Annie. I swear those uneaten cakes are going to haunt me. From now on, at least two cakes a day."

I think that sounds like decent advice. I'm adding it to my list right now. Okay, not really. One of the things I loved about this book was that Polly recognizes that "living each day as if it were your last" is completely unrealistic and actually quite irresponsible. Bills must be paid, the house must be cleaned. Of course we would never spend our last day doing those things, but we don't have to waste our time on things that don't matter, either.

"I just get so angry, you see, watching people...waste the time they have, when I don't have any."

It is so easy to fall into the trap of thinking we have thousands upon thousands of days ahead of us. Someday we'll learn French; someday we'll travel; someday we'll reconcile with that friend or family member. Someday all our somedays will run out and all we will have left is a pile of what ifs. 

"I think we should all live as if we are dying, too- because we are, make no mistake. We should live as if we're dying at some unspecified but possibly quite soon time."

I really liked this book. I grew attached to the characters and the storyline, but it also made me think about the life I want to live. I want to be able to look back and say I did something with my life and no one is going to be impressed with all the hours I spent scrolling through Facebook or pinning projects on Pinterest that I never actually started, and the least impressed of all will be me. Polly worked hard to use her last few months to make the world a better place. That's what I want to do, too, even if it is only a tiny corner of the world.