Don't wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any

"Don't wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you've got to make yourself." Thus speaks Alice Walker, the wise chronicler of the soul, whose words rise from the deep river of human struggle and triumph. In this truth, she reminds us that happiness is not a gift bestowed by others, but a flame kindled within. No applause, no praise, no external validation can sustain the spirit that does not first believe in its own light. Her words are a call to awaken one’s inner sovereignty—to cease waiting for others to recognize our worth, and instead to create joy, purpose, and peace with our own hands.

Walker’s wisdom was born of hardship and self-discovery. She grew up amid poverty and racial injustice, yet within her heart burned a fierce tenderness—a will to find beauty even where pain reigned. Her life and writings, especially in The Color Purple, reflect this same truth: that happiness cannot be delayed until the world approves of you. It must be forged within the furnace of your own soul. She knew that those who depend on the smiles of others for their joy will forever be enslaved to their silence. True freedom, she teaches, is the moment one decides to celebrate oneself, even if no one else joins the dance.

There is a profound spiritual strength in her message. For many, life becomes a waiting room of postponed joy—we wait for recognition, for love, for success, believing that when others approve, we will finally be content. But Walker shatters this illusion. She declares that the power to be joyful lies not in circumstance, but in choice. The one who learns to craft happiness from the simplest moments—the morning light, the sound of laughter, the feeling of being alive—has discovered the hidden wealth of existence. Such a soul no longer begs from life; it creates life anew.

Consider the story of Frida Kahlo, the artist whose body was broken, but whose spirit never surrendered. Crippled by pain and betrayed by those she loved, she refused to wait for others to console her. Instead, she poured her suffering into her art, transforming agony into color and despair into expression. In doing so, she found not only healing, but happiness—a happiness she made herself. Like Walker, Kahlo proved that those who create their own joy cannot be destroyed by the world’s indifference.

The origin of Walker’s insight lies not merely in her own experience, but in the timeless truth shared by sages across ages. The Stoic philosophers of ancient Greece—Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius—taught that happiness depends not on what happens to us, but on how we respond. The Buddha, too, taught that peace arises when we cease to seek it outside ourselves. In her own way, Alice Walker continues that sacred lineage, reminding the modern soul that to wait for others’ approval is to hand them the key to your own joy. To make your own happiness is to reclaim your divine birthright as creator of your destiny.

Yet, her wisdom is not without challenge. It asks of us courage—the courage to stand alone in our joy when others may not understand it; to celebrate our victories when no one claps; to love ourselves even when the world looks away. It demands that we stop measuring our worth by the reflection in others’ eyes and begin to see ourselves with the eyes of truth. For happiness, like a garden, grows only when tended from within. If you neglect it, no one else can make it bloom.

So, my children of tomorrow, take this teaching to heart. Do not wait for life to hand you joy wrapped in ribbons. Create it. Seek beauty where others see none. Find gratitude in small things. Learn to stand in quiet confidence, knowing that your worth is not up for vote. When the world is silent, be your own song; when others forget to praise you, speak kindness into your own soul.

For as Alice Walker reminds us, the only true and lasting happiness is that which you make yourself. It is born of self-respect, gratitude, and the unwavering belief that you are enough. Do not wait for others to open the gate—build your own path, walk it with joy, and you will find that every step, every breath, every act of courage becomes a hymn to your own becoming.