Be Happy! or Else!

  I received a book this week entitled, " Oh,Thank Goodness, It's Not Just Me!" by Lisa Hammond and BJ Gallagher.  I haven't taken time to read it yet, but the title is very much what this blog is about.  I wanted other people to know that someone else in the world is struggling with the same questions and observations.  This week, happiness has been on my mind.  I don't know whether it's genetic, learned, birth order or just a mom thing but I feel like it is my duty to keep everybody happy.  Now this is not the same as pleasing everybody.  I know that it's impossible to do that.  I also know that happiness is a choice.  But if somebody in my brood is not happy, it flips my switch.  I put on my unofficial "YOU WILL BE HAPPY" super hero outfit and start problem solving.  Yep, if it means moving a mountain, I'll try and try and try.  And, if I happen by some accident to make someone unhappy, well, you might as well throw me out of the boat because I will drown anyway if I don't fix it.
Let it go, you say?  Tell that to Wonder Woman or one of Charlie's Angels or Mulan, and they'll tell you to let yourself out the back door.  Several years ago, my family and I took a trip to a scenic location with the intentions of having a picnic overlooking the mountainside.  We stopped and bought lunch, drove to the picnic area, got out of the car, and the mutiny began.  It was freezing!  My family still teases me because I told them we were going to have that picnic and we were going to enjoy it or else!  You see, I had planned this trip as a happy time and mutiny about weather was not an option.  Never mind that it was so cold that the ice tea was smoking because it was warmer than the air!  So, in my attempt to manipulate happiness, I created the opposite condition.  Yes, I should have let it go.  I am wiser now, thanks to those 55 years that I am embracing with somewhat open arms.  I don't try to manipulate happiness quite as much anymore but I still struggle when a loved one is unhappy, I just have to do something!!! How about you?  Do you have something that flips your switch like this?