Happiness Project

I fail a lot. I just want to put that out there, right at the beginning of this post so that there is no misunderstanding. I have good intentions and often don’t live up to them. In spite of that, I started a happiness project of sorts in January. In the past month of working doing my happiness project, I’ve noticed that not keeping up with my happiness project correlates with feeling Blue. And I suspect that “feeling Blue” does not cause the “not keeping up” so much as the “not keeping up” contributes to the “feeling Blue.” It’s like Newton’s First Law and being a body in motion keeps me ahead of the Blues. This realization has probably been the biggest benefit of my happiness project so far.

Here is what I’ve been doing:

Journal: I’ve been keeping a written journal since about Christmas. It’s really totally boring. I haven’t ever in all the days I’ve written about, gone back and re-read it. For example, most of my entries end with some variation of, “And then we watched Dr. Who and went to bed.” However, there is something in the ritual of recording the day’s events that is comforting. Most of my journal entries start with a list of ten things I have to do that day. I usually only cross off two things from my list. (I told you I fail a lot.) After the list and before the day’s events, I write down the day’s Quote.

Quotes on a Theme: What is it about quotes that are so appealing? I don’t know, but I’ve always been a sucker for all quote delivery systems: page-a-day calendars, daily emails of quotes, Tumblr feeds, Pinterest boards. It’s sick, really. So I decided to add to the noise and be a collector of quotes. My theme for most of this year is from Galatians 5:22-23, or as I think of it, “The Fruit of the Spirit.” January was love. February is joy. March is peace, and so on. Along with writing the quotes in my diary, I put them in my Tumblr feed. I don’t think much about the quotes over the course of the day, but every now and then, when I’m particularly frustrated about something, I’ll open my Tumblr feed and read the day’s inspiration.

Chore Chart: I’m one of those terrible people who is blind to dust, dirt, and the gradual accumulation of filth. Left to my own devices, I would vacuum the floor only when my parents were coming to visit and take out the trash only when I could stuff not one more Q-tip in the bag or the smell became unbearable. That’s just me. (I got married to someone who vacuums three times a week so I don’t have to worry about rugs or trash. Consider this, single ladies, when you choose your mate.) I will, however, periodically (although not regularly enough if Pinterest if your life coach) decide to wash the curtains or deep clean the refrigerator. Given my limitations and inclinations, I decided to make a chore chart. It just works for me; it gives me a sense of accomplishment and keeps me moving. The times when I start to get lazy and not check things off my chore chart, coincide with the onset the Blues. After several months of nothing checked off my chore chart last year, this realization finally dawned on my during an early February lag in my New Year’s Resolve.

Resolutions: Right now, I’m adding a new resolution every week. Sometimes they coincide with my “quotes on a theme” but most often they do not. Sometimes they are well-thought out and sometimes they are not. Some of them are very successful, some of them are not. The good thing about it is that it holds me accountable. Will I get to the end of the year and actually have 52 resolutions? I hope not. There is only so much a girl can do in a day. Here are my resolutions thus far, week by week:

1.       Spend 1 hour on thesis.

2.       Workout.

3.       Reset every night.

4.       Read a chapter in the Bible every day.

5.       Eat differently. (This changes. The first two weeks, Tim and I were on a detox diet. Then with the start of Lent, I started a Daniel Fast. After Easter, it will probably be something that focuses on eating all my vegetables or something like that.)

6.       Find Joy. (This is a reminder to myself: Don’t be an asshole. There is something to be happy about everyday if I just look for it. And write it down so I remember.)

7.       Pray the Offices. 

8.       Spend at least 5 minutes during lunch working on a blog post.