Real Emotions.

Guys. This guest post from Jenna Duty gave me chills. She said something that all of us feel at some point, but are probably to insecure to say. Read her story. I promise you will have a different outlook on your day because of it. Thank you Jenna, for being real. I'll be back tomorrow :)

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Hey there Shine Project readers!

My name is Jenna Duty and I blog over HERE.

I am 23, a wife to a very hard worker, Curtis, and mama to a beautiful baby girl, Brooklynn.

I am sincerely honored to be posting here today! Ashley is an incredible woman and I am very blessed to be apart of her bangin' blog!

Today I'm going to talk a little about being happy! I hope you enjoy my post!

"Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means you've decided to look beyond the imperfections"

-unknown

This is a quote that I try to live by everyday. Because it is 100% true. Life most of the time is not going to be perfect.

But we can still choose to be happy.

And everyone would prefer to be happy rather than sad or upset right?

I used to be a very easy going and happy girl. I had everything I needed. I was at the college I wanted to be at (University of Utah), I had a great group of friends, a great boyfriend,

and I was thin.

I was never cocky but I was happy with the way I looked. Getting ready in the morning was easy because I was happy with the end result. Also, I could eat whatever I wanted, when ever I wanted and would not gain a pound.

It. Was. Awesome.

I then got married and had my perfect sweet baby girl which only made me more happy.

But then I realized I was not losing the weight like I thought I was going to. I started to get really down on myself. I started to feel ugly. I didn't like myself. I never got ready because I felt it was a waste of time. I became a very negative and insecure person. I'm going to show you all the before and after of having a baby. This is really hard for me. I rarely ever put photos of myself on my own blog because I have become so self conscious. But I am learning to be beautiful in my own skin.

So here is a before and after of having my sweet baby girl.

Pretty big difference huh? But you know what?

I have chosen to not be a negative person.

Who cares that I'm not as skinny as I used to be?? If I want to get back to that, I can. I need to work out and eat healthy which is something I should have been doing anyway. I don't have to be a cranky, negative person in the process.

"Happy girls are the prettiest"

-Audrey Hepburn

Having the strength to be a happy person is a beautiful thing. There is so much to be grateful for. It is very easy to blame others for how we feel but only we can truly decide if we want to be happy or not.

So I challenge you to chose to be happy.

I guarantee that if you chose to be happy your happiness will shine onto others causing them to be happy too.

Happiness is contagious.

It's hard to be angry or negative when you are with someone who is happy.

-Here are a few of my tips on how to stay positive-

-compliment others. when you say something nice about someone it will make them smile which in return will make you smile and feel good.

-take 30 minutes a day to do something for you that makes you happy. such as read a book, bake, dance around in your room, sing, anything that makes YOU happy.

-exercise as often as you can. yeah trust me, i know it's hard to get to the gym or pop in a work out video but i know for a fact that you will feel happier if you do.

-be silly. as long as you're in an appropriate situation. i feel that being silly keeps you young.

-focus on today.. not what happened yesterday or what's going on tomorrow, but what you are going to do now. in this moment.

I hope that you all can choose to be happy. You all deserve it!

Come on over to The Duty Family blog and let me know what you do to stay happy.

"Never get discouraged. If I were in the deepest coal pit of Nova Scotia and had the Rocky mountains piled on top of me I would not be discouraged, and I would come out on top."
-J. Smith

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Wow, amazing right? You can go follow Jenna HERE!