My happiness project

As part of these new goals we are setting for ourselves, I decided that the best place to start would be for me to write down all that I wanted to accomplish this year, what I wanted to work towards, and how I was going to get there. After writing down this list, I remembered that I did the same thing about a year ago, (probably some new year’s resolution I was setting for myself). Out of curiosity I looked up this list to see how my goals have changed or stayed the same, and to my surprise, the entire list was different from the one I am working on now. Although I still agree with the goals that I was working on, I am glad to say that my focus has changed. A year ago, I was more concerned with losing weight, and well, I am guessing I wasn’t too please with me physically and that was what I wanted to fix. I guess over the last year, I have come to realize what is really important, and although it is still a goal to lose the weight and taking care of myself, that isn’t my main focus this year.

First off, I need to make a confession. I can’t say no. There I said it. I hate saying no to people. And it honestly isn’t like when people say that they will do stuff and then complain the whole time they are doing it. I love doing things for people and helping out. I really thrive off of it. It makes me feel good that I am helping ease someone else’s burden. I also get involved with so much that it drives my husband crazy sometimes. I just love going I guess. Some might think this is a good thing. And it can be, but when you are always saying yes…well there are so many hours in a day. And with all that I get involved in, there are bound to be things that get neglected.

 And this is where I come to my first goal. JUST SAY NO. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to help people out, but I need to learn to say no sometimes. 

Okay, so that wasn’t really one of my goals, but it is one way I am making my other goals happen. Because most of my goals involve time, and I need to make more of it for me to be able to get ‘em done. One reason for making time is my family. I feel and know that I haven’t been giving my children or husband the attention that they deserve, and although they aren’t suffering, I know that it is more important to spend time with them than to be doing all these other things that I agree to.

One goal of mine that I have started with in my home is to get organized. Earlier this month, I decided to choose a word of the year, something that I was going to strive for, and Organization was it.  I don’t just want to organize physical things, like all the books I have piling up in my bedroom, or the overflowing amount of toys in the playroom, I want to organize my life and all the goes on in it. I feel like life gets cluttered, with all of our day to day activities and projects, and all that we have to worry about. Especially as a girl, my mind is always going. By the end of the day, I am just exhausted mentally from all that I have had to think about. This year I want to try and clear away as much of that “clutter” as I can.

Another goal of mine is the spend more time with my kids and husband. I feel like this is especially tied in with why I need to say no. Up until a year ago, I was in school and I felt like all my time was devoted to homework or going to class. I decided after I got my associates, I would hold off on the rest of my education until the kids were in school because I wanted to spend more time with them. However, homework and classes were just replaced with different commitments that I didn’t need to do like doing freezer meal or scrapbook exchanges, (don’t get me wrong, I do love having a freezer full of meals so I don’t have to cook. Plus that actually allows me more time with my family where as I would have to be making a meal.) I was still neglecting my family, just in a different way. I want to change that this year. I am going to spend more time with my family, in constructive ways too.

My next goal is to just be happier. I think so many people today forget how to be happy, or forget to be happy with all that is going on. I want to relish in the good that is going on in my life and be happier. This includes spending time with family, taking care of myself and getting closer to Heavenly Father.  There are some mini goals I have that are connected to all these goals, but I don’t want to get into that and make this post more of a novel than it already is.

I did want to mention one thing though. A while back I read a book called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. (I actually probably should read it again.) It was a wonderful book about a lady that took a challenge upon herself to get happy. She felt in a slump like so many of us do at times, and wanted to change it. She decided to de-clutter her life and refocus all her attention on what matters most. It was a very motivational book and when I read it, it got me wanting to make changes in my life. The same changes I am going to work on this year. I highly recommend it.  So here I go, to work on my own happiness project.