Happiness Project

A favorite writer of mine, Gretchen Rubin, wrote The Happiness Project (along with a number of other books on the subject of happiness).  She also co-hosts a podcast with her sister, Liz Kraft.  Their podcast is "Happier with Gretchen Rubin", and Liz has a similar podcast with her writing partner, "Happier in Hollywood".  I recommend it all.  I listen to the podcasts every week when they come out, and I've read a few of Gretchen's books and am in the middle of another.

I believe this is the newly released, 10th anniversary edition of The Happiness Project.

Inspired by The Happiness Project, I've wanted to start my own project.  I've thought about it for a while, but I never picked a starting time.  I never really wrote down all my thoughts about what my happiness project would look like, either.  Gretchen uses each month of a year to focus on a different area of her life to try to improve.  She uses some type of chart to mark her daily progress of goals for what to work on that month.  I knew I wanted to follow a similar pattern, but I hadn't determined the monthly focus areas or the individual tasks for each month.  Until now, that is.

Back at the beginning of November, I decided to drop carbs that I eat at home and drop sugar (with a couple of exceptions that I knew were coming that month such as a milkshake date and 1 piece of pie at both Thanksgiving meals).  I've done both before, and "now" seemed like a good time to do it again.  A couple of days into the month, with carb- and sugar-avoiding success (and a headache), I realized that "now" was a good time to start a happiness project, too.  I could start with a focus on my health, add a couple more daily goals (such as keeping a good journal, setting a step goal, and working on pushups) for the month, and plan the other 11 months as November progressed.

I knew I would be traveling in December, so I chose a focus area I could do anywhere:  my spiritual health.  I wanted to keep a prayer journal, meditate on a Bible verse, count blessings, etc.  I'll be honest, I didn't get many check marks the first half of the month while I was traveling.  But stumbling isn't failing, and I finished the month strong (not perfect, but strong).

Other focus areas for the coming year are marriage, parenting, time management, family and friends, evaluating possessions, atmosphere, mental health, lightening up, and challenging myself.  And as Gretchen herself did, my last month, October, will be a perfection boot camp of sorts.  I will pick a highlight from each month that seemed to bring the most happiness and focus on achieving them all.

I've tried to plan months according to when I know I'll be traveling, but I know there will be mistakes and challenges along the way.  I know I can't be perfect (as nobody is and as I haven't been yet).  My perfectionist side is handling things pretty well.  I think this is good for me.  It doesn't even bother me that my year is November-October.  Those dates make no sense.  But the best time to start is now.