My Happiness Project

Over my school break I read Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. It was very inspiring. Everyday I find myself thinking over some her thoughts on how to be happier, and I find myself a little overwhelmed trying to remember them all. I decided to make my own Happiness Resolutions in order to make it easier to remember (and apply) what I learned from her book. Gretchen gives you her own happiness resolutions, so I used hers as a jumping off point. Some of them match hers exactly and others I made up for myself. I thought 10 would be a good number:

1. Eat real food
2. Avoid talking about money
3. Be generous
4. Give energy to my interests
5. Exercise everyday
6. Curate a simple life
7. Listen
8. Say thanks
9. Uplift others
10. Be Lou

I'm keeping a copy of these resolutions in my email inbox so that I can refer to them easily. So far the most difficult resolution is to "Be Lou." The idea behind that one is to be yourself. It sounds easy, but it's really not! I often want to do things because I think that's what I'm Supposed to do, or it's something that I would want to do if I was some perfect idea of myself. But I'm not...I'm just Lou. Do I want to be the kind of person that can bungee jump and ride roller coasters? Yes. Yes! I want to be brave and awesome and do those daring things. BUT, do I want to do those things? No. They terrify me and just thinking about them makes me sick. So why can't I just Be Lou? That's the idea. It's not to say that I shouldn't push myself or try new things, but to understand that what I just plain old don't like is OK. I want to accept myself and accept the idea that I just don't want to ride a roller coaster. And then not worry about it anymore or make myself feel guilty for it.

Get the idea? I'm going to explore some more of my resolutions as I try to follow them in my life.