“No matter where life takes me, find me with a smile. Presumed to be happy, always laughing like a child. I never thought life could be this sweet - it got me cheesin' from ear to ear.”
— Mac Miller
These lines open Mac Miller's 'Best Day Ever' (2011), his breakout mixtape track. Written at 19, before mainstream success, they capture his philosophy of choosing joy as a conscious act - not denial of struggle, but a deliberate stance toward life.
I wrote this when I was just a kid from Pittsburgh who believed something good was coming. Before the deals, before the press, before everything got heavy, I chose to smile. Not because life was easy. Because smiling was the only thing that kept me moving forward. That choice, made quietly before anyone was watching, shaped everything that followed. You can decide who you are before the world decides for you.