When the smiles come slowly

When the smiles come slowly it can be easy to miss them.

When things are hard, when we struggle, when we feel like we’re fighting against a strong wind or a raging current or a tsunami with a terrible temper, smiles feel like they’re something that belong to other people.

But they’re not. We still smile, but slowly. We smile inwardly, perhaps, rather than outwardly. But we still smile.

Sometimes it feels as if the tiniest chink of light only serves to remind us of the darkness we’re encased in. And it’s in those moments that we have to remember that we’ve seen the chink of light at all.

Smile Through It was created with the belief that every day, no matter how bad, if we can find one small thing to smile about, it’s not a wasted day. What I’ve discovered over the last 15 years since I first posted is even when things seem utterly humourless there are almost always smiles there.

What we have to do is notice them. Because when they don’t burst into bloom to brighten our faces we often don’t count them as smiles. But the little smiles, the semi-hidden smiles, the smiles that don’t want to declare themselves?

Those are the most precious smiles and the ones we need to hold on to the tightest.