Why Is It So Difficult To Be Happy?

I’m not talking about the 16 year old angst against your mother unhappy. I’m talking, every day happiness. It just seems so difficult to achieve. I work in retail as a cashier, I get every kind of customer, young and old and of all ethnicities. I have observed that majority of them are miserable. I just don’t understand. They are either in a hurry and something sets them off or they came into the store irate. I understand that times are hard, funds are low, and media can be some sort of contributor. However is it really still that hard to look past the materialistic side and put on a smile? The worst part is that anger has an avalanche effect on not only you but the people around you. It is as contagious as a simple yawn. This is where I struggle, because I try to start my day with some form of joyfulness, however as soon as something/someone upsets me I become annoyed or irritated and it eventually overcomes my whole day and puts me in this snappy mood. I question this because I have seen happy people, they are there and when they are it is a breath of fresh air. A rainbow. The light at the end of the tunnel. A glimmer of hope. It is truly mesmerizing to see a person that you know is happy, you know that they have experienced the roughness but are still living life to the fullest and always wearing a smile. Everyday I drive down my street and I pass this little old man probably 75-80 years. He rides this light blue moped. He has a license plate and everything, however he only goes about 10MPH, so I don’t think he’s going anywhere in particular. He is just going to go. He doesn’t let the cars going 50MPH, honking, and swearing bother him, he doesn’t speed up for them. He just keeps going. I love it,(not sure why it upsets people so much I guess impatience comes with anger) you can tell he enjoys it and that hes just happy to be doing it. I understand that we have bad days every once and a while, but I wish that we could turn them into a bad afternoon or maybe down to just a bad hour. Because I sadly see them turning into bad weeks and then bad lives. I guess the next time I wake up on the “wrong side of the bed” or the red light is taking just a little to long to turn green… I’m going to slow down and smile.