I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and became interested in trying to follow some of the tips in the book. For those who don't know, the book is about a woman who tries to find simple ways to make herself happier in her daily life. There are dozens of reviews on Amazon, so I won't go into too much detail on that, but the basic premise is that each month of the year, the author focused on a specific area of her life that she wanted to change in order to make herself happier.
These were the twelve things Rubin chose to work on strengthening each month. I went through and made some minor changes to fit my life and what each of these things means to me.
My Happiness Project
January 2013: Boost Energy (Vitality) - I want to move more, drink more water, go to sleep earlier, clear out clutter from my home and tackle a project I've been putting off (painting around the house)
February 2013: Remember Love (Marriage) - quit nagging, do more things for Ted to show my love
March 2013: Aim Higher (Work) - make better use of my blog, work more on personal marketing, create a brand image for myself, be more cheerful at my day job
April 2013: Lighten Up (Parenthood) - I'm not a parent, but I do have a dog. I need to be more attentive to her, play with her more, take her for longer walks, take her to the dog park
May 2013: Be Serious About Play (Leisure) - get back into scrapbooking, spend time outdoors, start a collection (white pottery and glassware), go new places (restaurants, stores, parks, etc.)
June 2013: Make Time for Friends (Friendship) - re-connect with a friend(s) from college, make more effort to call people, plan dinner dates with friends, have a game night at our house
July 2012: Buy Some Happiness (Money) - buy things that would solve nagging issues (like a rack for our pots and pans cupboard that I hate), splurge on something that I want (lens for my camera), give things away
August 2012: Contemplate the Heavens (Eternity) - read my daily Bible again, be more faithful about attending church, pray more
September 2012: Pursue a Passion (Books/Photography) - take a class on photography, read every library book possible on photography, make a books to read list and start checking them off
October 2012: Pay Attention (Mindfulness) - do things for other people that I know will make them happy (finally make Mom a wedding album!), be polite to everyone I encounter
November 2012: Keep a Contented Heart (Attitude) - be happier with what I have and where I am in life, find fun in the everyday, treat everything like an adventure, avoid complaining
December 2012: Boot Camp Perfect (Happiness) - follow all of my guidelines for every month in a sort of "happiness bootcamp" as described in the book. It's ok if it's not possible to perfectly complete every task, as long as I'm making a genuine effort. For this year, I won't have completed every month yet, since I'm starting part way through the year. I will just try to follow July through November at this point, and next July do a bootcamp month all over again.
The point of all this isn't that I'm an unhappy person. I think I'm generally pretty happy in my daily life, but I know there are things I could do to make my life even better. This is a push to get myself to pay more attention to how blessed I am and how I shouldn't take anything for granted.
I am going to look up this book. Thanks for the inspiration. Have you found a photography class? I would like to learn more about Photoshop.
ReplyDeleteNo problem - I really liked the book. Kendall has fall continuing education classes and I'm planning to take one on Tuesday nights in October/November. If you go on their website, they have a catalog you can download with the schedule for everything. They have a lot of stuff that looks really fun and it's way cheaper than taking a real class for credit
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