I am grumpy cat in human form.

Often, I say I am Grumpy Kat (Kjerstine A. Trooien = Kat, get it?), but I digress. Seriously, take a look:

http://www.grumpycats.com/tag/grumpycat/page/4/#.Up5oq8Q3uSo

I know, I know, it may be be difficult to figure out which photo is of me and which is of the cat. The first one is of me while studying. The second is of the grumpy fur ball of internet fame, Tarder Sauce. The easiest way to tell us apart is to look for the whiskers –mine are much less pronounced.

Not only do I look a bit like the lovable Tarder Sauce, I tend to err on the side of grumpy. It isn’t that I’m ungrateful or dislike everything, it’s just that my life has taught me to always be skeptical and never take anything at face value. This often comes off as grumpy. Being grumpy doesn’t mean I’m not a nice person, it just means I have a tendency to complain. A lot. A bit too much, in fact…

For the longest time, I tried to deny my natural state of grumpy. There were times where I even branched into the realm of over-optimistic. It wasn’t until I realized that grumpy doesn’t mean unhappy, at least not in my book, that I began to accept it. I am easily irritated. That’s all.

I can be happy and irritated at the same time. Don’t believe this to be possible? Listen to SpongeBob’s voice. If you don’t find that grating while still laughing at his jokes, then I have to doubt your sanity. Emotions are not things that are always experienced one at a time.

I might be grumpy because I didn’t get enough sleep but happy because I’m meeting an old friend for early morning coffee. It’s okay to be both and it has taken me way too long to realize that. In a way, I am almost happier when I embrace my grumpy nature. Funny how that works, huh?