My Happiness Project – Week 2

Last week I discussed starting my Happiness Project and how I planned to keep a one sentence journal daily.  Well the journal has been mostly successful, out of 16 days I’ve only missed 5 days and several of those were because I fell asleep on the couch or cuddling with Gabby in the recliner which lead me to stumbling to bed bypassing my journal on the nightstand.

Gretchen Rubin asked ‘Is Happiness a Choice?’ on the Happiness Project Facebook Fan Page for all to chime in, the conversation was interesting.  My answer was yes, of course it is.  I truly believe that before we can be happy, we have to chose to allow ourselves to be happy.  I also believe that sometimes it takes work to become happier than what we are at any given moment.  If something negative is going on in our lives that makes us unhappy then we are the ones who have the choice to change it.  Of course that’s easier said than done.  Like those sayings ‘you want something out of life you have to go out and get it‘ and ‘take the bull by the horns‘ or how about ‘you can do anything or be anything that you set your mind to‘.  Well that’s exactly what I’m trying to accomplish here.  Just become happier….

When reading Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project a few of her quotes have stuck with me and been real eye openers.

“And — though I didn’t recognize this immediately — I started my happiness project because I wanted to prepare.  I was a very fortunate person, but the wheel could turn … One of my goals for the happiness project was to prepare for adversity — to develop the self-discipline and the mental habits to deal with a bad thing when it happens.” ~Gretchen Rubin

I will admit my project is the opposite.  Three years ago my life started turning upside down.  Gabby changed from the child I had known for over four years.  I lost control of our lives or honestly I just realized I didn’t have control and couldn’t always protect my child from life’s unfortunate events.  For the past three years I had remained strong for Gabby.  During her brain surgery, watching her on that hospital bed for so many months and now years worth of countless doctors visits.  Gabby has changed dramatically from the child she once was.  I think after three years I have let it all catch up with me, eat at me and change me.  Now it’s time I focus on acceptance and working towards happiness.

“The words of the writer Colette had haunted me for years: ‘What a wonderful life I’ve had!  I only wish I’d realized it sooner’.  I didn’t want to look back, at the end of my life or after some great catastrophe, and think, How happy I used to be then, if only I’d realized it.” ~Gretchen Rubin

That’s exactly what I’m doing now.  I look back, forward, present and all over again.  It’s like I’m lost and confused on what my life is now compared to what it is that I truly want.  I’m tired of thinking about ‘what could have been‘.
Every Wednesday Gretchen shares tips on the Happiness Project blog.  She also shares stories and other posts that you would enjoy while conducting your Happiness Project.