MidReal Story
Unlocking Happiness: Camille's Journey to Joy
Scenario: "Les Clés du Bonheur" est un livre inspirant et pratique qui explore les principes fondamentaux pour cultiver le bonheur et l'épanouissement dans tous les aspects de la vie. En combinant des enseignements issus de la psychologie positive, de la philosophie et des pratiques de développement personnel, cet ouvrage offre des conseils concrets et des exercices simples pour aider les lecteurs à trouver la joie, la paix intérieure et le succès.
À travers des chapitres traitant de la gratitude, de la résilience, de la gestion du stress, de la communication positive et de la définition d'objectifs significatifs, "Les Clés du Bonheur" propose un voyage vers une vie plus équilibrée, épanouissante et pleine de sens. Que vous cherchiez à améliorer vos relations, à renforcer votre confiance en vous, ou à trouver votre passion, ce livre vous guidera pas à pas vers une transformation personnelle durable.
Avec des anecdotes inspirantes, des exercices pratiques et des stratégies éprouvées, "Les Clés du Bonheur" est un compagnon essentiel pour tous ceux qui aspirent à vivre pleinement et à cultiver un état d'esprit positif au quotidien. Plongez dans ces pages et découvrez comment libérer votre potentiel, cultiver le bonheur et créer la vie que vous méritez.
Create my version of this story
Camille Leblanc
happiness seeker, friends with Lucas and mentor to Sophie, short with curly brown hair, optimistic and resilient.
Sophie Dubois
wise mentor, mentor to Camille and Lucas, elegant with silver hair, wise and compassionate.
Lucas Moreau
supportive friend, friends with Camille and mentored by Sophie, tall with glasses and a calm demeanor, thoughtful and insightful.
I was a little girl when I first heard about the “Les Clés du Bonheur” seminar.
My parents were talking about it at the dinner table, and I remember my mother saying that she would love to attend one day.
I asked her what it was, and she explained that it was a seminar where people learned how to be happy.
I remember thinking that it was a strange thing to learn, but I didn’t say anything.
I was only ten years old at the time, and I didn’t know much about life or happiness.
But I did know that my parents weren’t very happy.
They fought all the time, and my mother often cried herself to sleep at night.
I didn’t know why they were so unhappy, but I knew that I didn’t want to end up like them.
So from that day on, I made it my mission to find out what happiness was and how to get it.
I read books on the subject, listened to podcasts, and attended seminars whenever I could.
So there I was, sitting in a hotel ballroom at the Les Clés du Bonheur seminar, listening to the speaker talk about how to find happiness in life.
I had been to this seminar once before, and I had signed up for it again because I was determined to learn the secret to being happy.
But as the speaker droned on, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated.
I had been trying to find the key to happiness for as long as I could remember, and I was starting to wonder if it even existed.
I mean, was happiness really something that could be learned, or was it just something you were born with?
It was a question I had been asking myself for years, and one that I still hadn’t found the answer to.
But I wasn’t about to give up.
It all started when I was ten years old, and my parents were talking about the Les Clés du Bonheur seminar at the dinner table.
My mother said that she would love to go someday, and my father said that maybe they could attend together.
“What is this seminar?”
I asked them, setting down my fork.
“It’s called ‘The Keys to Happiness,’” my mother explained.
“It’s a place where people can go to learn how to be happy.”
I remember thinking that it seemed like a strange place to go, but I didn’t say anything.
Instead, I listened as my parents talked about how they wished they could be happier, and how they thought this seminar might help.
It was a conversation that stuck with me long after that night.
Even at my young age, I knew that my parents weren’t very happy people.
They fought all the time, and my mother often cried herself to sleep at night.
But despite their unhappiness, they still loved each other, and they still loved me.
This paradox confused me.
And so did my mother’s desire to be happy.
How could she want something so badly and not know how to get it?
I didn’t understand it then, and to be honest, I still don’t completely understand it now.
But what I do know is that from that moment on, I was determined to figure out what happiness was and how to achieve it.
And I was going to do whatever it took to find out.
That determination led me on a lifelong quest for happiness.
I read every book on the subject that I could find.
I listened to every podcast that claimed to have the secret to being happy.
And whenever a seminar like this one came to town, I was always one of the first to sign up.
But despite all of my efforts, happiness always seemed just out of reach.
And no matter what I did or where I looked, I couldn’t find the key to unlocking it.
I wish I could say that my pursuit of happiness was always an easy one.
It started in elementary school, where my teachers always had something negative to say about me in my report cards—things like “Camille is often found daydreaming in class and could benefit from focusing” and “Camille has difficulty paying attention and following instructions.” Even back then, they said that my persistent negativity prevented me from reaching my full potential, and my self-doubt caused me from trying new things. These things only worsened as I got older, and by high school, they were a huge problem for me and my parents.
As a teenager, my self-doubt and pessimism were at an all-time high, and so was my unhappiness with my life.
I had always been a bit of a negative person, but as I got older, that negativity only grew stronger.
And the more negative I became, the unhappier I felt with my life and myself in general.
I didn’t know why this was happening, and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t figure out how to fix it.
I didn’t know why I was so unhappy or how to fix it, and that made me feel lost and hopeless inside.
I could feel the happiness slipping through my fingers like sand, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t hold onto it for long.
It wasn’t a good feeling, and after a while, it started affecting different areas of my life, including school and my relationships with others.
One of the biggest ways that my unhappiness affected me in high school was my grades—I struggled in most of my classes and often felt like giving up on school altogether because of it.
But the biggest challenge came in English class during my sophomore year when we had to read a passage from our favorite book in front of the class—and that book had to be one that was over 500 pages long.
If we didn’t have a book already picked out, we could go to the school library and check one out that same day.
The librarian mentioned that most students were picking titles from the Harry Potter series, so if we wanted a good grade on our assignment, we should choose something from those books too since we were more likely to present well on something we enjoyed reading (as opposed to picking a random book off the shelf).
As soon as she said that, my heart sank.
I wasn’t a big fan of the Harry Potter series like most students my age were.
So when the librarian asked if anyone wanted to check out a Harry Potter book to use for their assignment, my hand stayed down.
As time went on and no other students volunteered to check out a different book, the librarian grew impatient and asked me if I wanted to go ahead and get my book.
I nodded and stood up from my seat to go to the library.
When I approached the librarian’s desk and told her that Harry Potter wasn’t my favorite series but that there were other books by different authors that I enjoyed reading and might be over 500 pages long, she simply smiled and told me to go pick out a book while she looked up a list of titles for me.
I remember feeling relieved by her response and thanked her before taking off down the hallway toward the library.
Her name was Sophie Dubois.
She was like a fairy godmother who helped people find their happiness.
She was known for hosting seminars in Paris where people could come to learn how to be happy.
Lucas (my best friend) said it was like she acted as a happiness mentor for anyone who needed or wanted help finding their happiness.
He had met Sophie a few years earlier and said she changed his life.
He told me how amazing she was and what an impact she made on people’s lives through her seminars.
He even said that without Sophie’s help, he didn’t know if he would have ever found his own happiness and had such a great relationship with his girlfriend, Zoé.
But when Lucas first told me about Sophie and his experience with her, I thought he was absolutely crazy.
How could someone be a mentor for happiness?
I thought it sounded a little absurd, to be honest.
But Lucas wasn’t the type to make up stories, so when he said that it really happened, I believed him even though it still sounded a little unbelievable to me at the time.
And now, thinking back about it, maybe that’s what made his story about Sophie so intriguing to me—it sounded too good to be true but yet still offered a glimmer of hope for something that sounded like exactly what I had been searching for all this time—my own happiness mentor.
Up until our conversation, I had been on a non-stop happiness journey for as long as I could remember trying to figure out how to be happy because my parents weren’t the happiest people, and all of my experiences at school didn’t leave much room for happiness either, especially when it came to my grades, which were always suffering because of my lack of self-confidence in my ability to speak up in class or work with others during group assignments.
But somehow that all changed after meeting Lucas.
I don’t know exactly what it was about him that made such a big difference in my life, but I think it had to do with how he believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.
He made me feel like I could do anything, and I think that’s what helped me to push through all of the obstacles that were holding me back from finding my happiness.
And really, I think that’s what makes Lucas so special—he’s a true friend who genuinely cares about the happiness of others, and he always tries to help whenever he can, just like Sophie.
So when Lucas called me one cold January day to tell me that Sophie Dubois was hosting another seminar in Paris and invited him to come, I wasn’t very surprised.
After all, they had been keeping in touch for a while after he first met her at the seminar several years earlier.
I thought it was pretty cool that Sophie thought I could benefit from attending one of her seminars—I mean, who wouldn’t want a happiness mentor?—but what really surprised me was how she already knew all about me and how I had been struggling to find my happiness all this time.
It felt like she could read my mind or something, and it made me wonder if she really could help me find my happiness after all.
So, after hearing so much about Sophie from Lucas and how much she meant to him, I knew I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to meet her for myself and learn how to be happy from one of the best mentors out there!
The seminar, “Les Clés du Bonheur”, was held at a beautiful retreat center nestled in the forest just outside of Paris.
The rooms were spacious and cozy with lots of natural light streaming through the large windows overlooking the lush green gardens below.
The food was amazing too!
We were treated to a delicious breakfast buffet each morning with fresh croissants (my favorite!) and a three-course dinner every night with wine and dessert—what else could you ask for?
But aside from all of the great food and incredible accommodations, one of the best things about the seminar was meeting all of the other amazing people who came to attend too!
The seminar was a three-day event, and each day was filled with guided discussions, group activities, and personal journaling to help us uncover the keys to our own happiness.
Some parts were really intense and emotionally draining, but it was all worth it in the end because everyone left feeling so much happier than when they first arrived, including me!
After finishing up the morning session of the first day, we were given a short break to relax and recharge before starting up the next session later that afternoon.
Lucas and I decided to go for a walk around the retreat center to get some fresh air and enjoy the beautiful weather outside.
It was early summer and the sun was shining brightly on that day, so we wanted to take advantage of the good weather while it lasted!
After walking around for a bit, we found a nice bench to sit down and relax for a few minutes before having to go back to the conference room for the next session.
“Man, I can’t believe how great the weather is today,” Lucas said as he leaned back on the bench, stretching his arms out wide to bask in the warm sunlight.
“This is such a nice break from all the rain we’ve been having lately.”
I laughed and playfully shoved him with my shoulder, “Oh stop being such a princess!You act like you’re going to melt if you step out in the rain for five minutes!”
“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it!”
Lucas countered, “You never know what might happen if my delicate skin gets wet and catches a cold, you know!”
I chuckled and shook my head, “You’re so weird, Lucas.But I love you anyways.”
“I love you too, Camille.”
Lucas replied, giving me a warm smile before leaning his head back against the bench to relax some more.
But then I caught myself staring at Lucas for a little while longer, and I suddenly felt my eyes well up with tears as an overwhelming sense of sadness washed over me.
And before I knew what was happening, the tears started streaming down my face in hot, heavy droplets that were impossible to hold back any longer, no matter how hard I tried to stop them.
But I guess I must’ve wiped a little too hard because the next thing I knew, I felt something warm and sticky splatter all over my shirt and down the front of my chest, and it was really uncomfortable to the point where I almost wanted to throw up just thinking about it.
“What’s wrong, Camille?”
I heard Lucas ask me as he turned to face me in surprise, his eyes widening with shock when he saw all the tears streaming down my face as I struggled to wipe them away with my hands.
And then I felt him reach out to gently grab my shoulders as he leaned over to look at me more closely, his face full of concern as he studied my expression with a worried frown.
“Oh no…”
Lucas said with a low gasp of dread when he realized what was going on, his voice filled with so much empathy and compassion as he continued to look at me with a forlorn expression on his face.
And that only made me feel even worse about myself as I buried my head in my hands in shame, trying to hide from the world as I cried even harder than before, unable to stop no matter how hard I tried.
“Camille,”
I felt Lucas say my name again in a soft whisper as he reached out to gently lay his hand over mine and give it a comforting squeeze, his voice warm and gentle as he spoke to me with so much kindness and support, “It’s okay… everything is going to be okay, Camille.I’m right here with you.”
I felt myself shudder at the sound of his voice as a fresh wave of emotion washed over me, making it hard for me to breathe as I struggled to keep myself from breaking down even further.
But when I felt Lucas gently pull me into his arms and wrap them around me in a warm embrace to comfort me, I suddenly lost all control over myself and started bawling uncontrollably into his chest with a loud wail of despair that echoed throughout the entire retreat center for everyone to hear.
And then I felt something else warm and wet start to drip down my face, only this time it wasn’t tears that were running down my cheeks but something else… something thicker… something stickier…
And that’s when I suddenly realized that I’d also managed to get blood on my face, too.
And just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse than they already were, I suddenly felt something else warm and sticky drip down the front of my shirt and down the center of my chest as well.
And then it started happening again… and again… and again…
It wasn’t long before Lucas helped me get cleaned up and changed into a new shirt after I’d basically soaked myself in a pool of blood and tears and other icky bodily fluids during our conversation on the bench.
But what really surprised me was how gentle and caring Lucas had been towards me after seeing me in such a vulnerable state earlier.
He could’ve easily freaked out and left me to deal with the mess on my own.
He could’ve turned away in disgust and never wanted to speak with me again.
He could’ve done a million other things that would’ve made me feel even worse about myself than I already did and probably break down even further as a result.
