Don't shoot me in the face.

I was shopping at Ikea recently. It’s not my most favourite store in the world but it was on the way home anyway and my husband decided he wanted to pick up a few bits and pieces. We were also hungry so we decided to grab some food whilst we were in there too.

Now I’ve heard that the company is actually quite good at looking after it’s employee’s. But what really stunned me is the young woman behind the food counter serving the hot food. She snapped at me asking what I wanted, large or small serving, fries or mash. Not once did she look at me. Not once did she smile. Not once did she make any kind of effort to interact with me any more than was the minimum amount required to get me to move on.

A number of thoughts flooded through my brain at this point. What would her day be like, if she actually tried being nice to people? Would she enjoy her work more? Would she find that people were more friendly to her?

It reminded me of a fellow podcaster Auntie Vera Charles. I chat with him frequently on twitter, well we normally tease each other actually, but that’s another story altogether….

Anyway, Vera recently did a podcast where he talked about his face sagging as he gets older, so he decided to try smiling more. Just a little so that it would help tone up the muscles in his face. Great idea actually and something I would highly recommend! But what really took him by surprise was what happened to his emotional state and even the reaction of people around him. Others started to notice, even strangers commented on his happy demeanour. Just by making this tiny change in his face, he improved his inner wellbeing and this was visible to the people he met.

No one can put a gun to your head and force you to be happy, just as no one can really force you to be a misery guts. The choice to be happy is up to you.

What will you choose?