Happiness slips through the window, it doesn’t bang on the front door.

For me, I think it’s quite funny how happiness sneaks its way through the window after a long bout of depression.

If it banged on the front door, perhaps I would shoo it away, like a rude stranger I don’t recognise from being depressed for so long.

But instead, it comes through the window, and embeds itself in the scent of a mandarin, as I lazily make some breakfast (even though I don’t feel like it). A fruity, zesty, exciting yet nostalgic scent from childhood. A humble mandarin. A secret beginning to feeling better.

I forget about the mandarin until the smell of freshly mown grass and the sound of a deep chuckle from a dear neighbour floats through the same window.

Happiness is here, I just need to learn how to welcome it back in. 

- Anna Maria