When I smile to strangers passing by, when I speak about positivity in classes I teach, when I tell my friend my day is so so wonderful, when I inspire on social media, when I post photos of me looking happy, am I faking it?

My immediate answer is, NO! Of course not! But today I stopped to really think this through; to dive deep and reflect on how I feel in these moments and how others perceive me.

As many of you know, on Instagram I am @Nic_thehappyyogi which so many people immediately say, “that suits you perfectly! You’re always happy!” Well that right there is not true, I am not always happy!

Surprised? Get real, I’m human!

We all have our good days and bad days. Days when everything goes right and days when everything goes wrong. Days when we feel on top of the world and days when we want to be a hermit curled up in bed all day. I laugh often, but I also cry. I am just like you and we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about our bad days. We shouldn’t feel the need to respond to another’s, “How are you?” with “Good” even though you feel like crap.

So am I being fake by being perceived as positive all the time? My answer is still no. As much as I have my ups and downs, I make a choice to not dwell on my downs. I choose to focus on my ups. Even if it is the worse day ever, I find a sliver of positivity to focus on instead of all the bad things. I can still tell you I’m having a wonderful day because I am choosing to have a wonderful day no matter the circumstances. I focus on my positive slivers: the sunshine, a person who held the door open for me, a kid who smiled at me, a delicious meal, a hot cup of tea, a great yoga class, a funny animal video. It doesn’t need to be big to affect great change on your attitude, it is just your choice to let it pass by or to hold on to the happiness you feel in that moment.

So whether on Instagram or real life, I promise you that what I share in that moment is exactly how I feel. There is no fakeness, just me. I agree that I could share more about the bad things that happen during my day to make it more ‘real’ but then I would be dwelling on the bad, which is something I choose to not do. So take me how you like, but no matter what know that I am not lying to you. I am choosing to be positive and choosing to share that positivity with everyone.

Choose your happy slivers my friends.