PadawanOfHappiness

Success for me is: Financial Security Happy Family Enjoy My Life Experiences Enjoy My Work (so what is work?) I am guessing that reason this is hard to define is that these bullet items interweave and influence each other.  I know that I have fallen into the trap of thinking that one item will be the one to focus on and obtaining that one item will lead to obtaining the other items. At this moment I feel that I am doing a pretty good job "enjoying my life "experiences.  Meaning that my vacations, my daily life, things that I have accomplished are good and I don't really feel like that I have any huge debt in that item to over come. Something similar can be said for having a "happy family" overall I think this is something that is working pretty well for me.  This is not a stumbling block for me right now.  I feel like what I have going on is mostly good and for now my groove is working and that I have better areas to focus on right now. ...

👍 Ok so here we are at the end of the month, so this week is short in terms of days in the month.  I started the month on a Tuesday and I am ending on a Thursday. I will admit it, week for 4 really bad for me it really threw my momentum off and starting out feeling like crud really didn't help me any and I had difficulty actually getting back on task.  So here is the deal I tried to get back on task and only had minimal success.  I really am an all or nothing girl in some aspects, like with exercise. By the end of the week I was feeling better and then boom my muscle issues reared their ugly head which then makes things worse.  I have come to two conclusions (1) despite the morning after sluggishness I need to go back to the muscle relaxers with out them I am not making progress and having more regressions.  (2) one of my PTs is great and the massage that he does feels fantastic and not too hard however both times the next day I felt horrible despite the i...

I am not really sure where I am going with this but I have been toying with this idea that success doesn't lead to happiness but it can sure enhance it.  So what exactly is success and really shouldn't I define success for me and ignore what "others" define as success? I have been thinking about this a lot and not really going anywhere partly because I am afraid of the answer.  But really I need to think about this for my own happiness, I get to decide what is right for me.  I also need to accept that I do not live in an ideal world so my vision of what I thought was success, probably isn't going to exist in the real world.  I need to adjust my idea of success to match reality and not what I wish, I have done it in other areas... Example of shifting expectations and ideals So I had this idea of how I would be as a parent before I had children, in fact I was an amazing parent and then I had kids.  The the kids came into my world and life changed in so many...

Do you know what the biggest derail-er (like that word?  I do too.) illness.  So here we are at the end of January and fortunately I have had a good run so far this winter.  So naturally we had a bit of a storm this weekend and it has been horrifically cold, and yes now I am feeling like crud.  As I told my youngest this morning I don't feel like I got hit by a truck I feel like I got run over by a freight train.  It is like I am stuck in pea soup and achy all over,   but I cannot lose momentum.  I still need to work out to some how, and focus on making some progress but at the very least don't back slide. I did great over the course of the week, so I am proud of where I am, and focusing on that  and not where I should be if I didn't get sick.  One of the hardest challenges is to focus on what is and not what could have been.  I would guess that the would have, could have, should haves are really my biggest enemy.  I really ...

OK I cannot believe that it is week 3 already.  Week 2 ended well and I was pleased with the fact that I managed to exercise 5 out of 7 days, which is within my goal of 5-6 times a week. Overall I would say that my energy level is up, I am not quite where I want to be but I do notice an improvement.  It is really hard to quantify it though even though my journal asks me to, but really I know it because I feel it.  For example I folded and put away my laundry, which may not seem like a big deal but it is for me.  I don't fold the laundry the same day I do it, and it is not a difficult task but when I have low energy it is one I can put off because the important thing is that there are clean clothes. The other day I just folded it all AND put my stuff away, my other half and the two munchkins are required to put their own stuff away.  This is a miracle because we didn't have house guests which in the past has been my motivator.  So really this ...

Since I took notes and highlighted some sections that resonated with me I decided it would be handy to send them to myself so I could read them and ponder them as I go through this first month. Chapter 1 is Boost Energy  there are five things I would like to tackle for this month. Boost Energy Go to sleep earlier Exercise more Act more energetic Tackle a nagging task Chapter 1 notes Update Feb. 10, 2019 my assessment of my results Boost Energy - overall yes I consistently have more energy but I still need to work on this. ✅ Go to sleep earlier - meh  sometimes but not great ✅ Exercise more -  yes I have🌟 Act more energetic - I really didn't do this at all, demerit for me 🚫 Tackle a nagging task- Nope didn't do this, demerit for me 🚫 Update Feb 11, 2019  Tackle a nagging task- I did it but am only giving myself a check ✅

So here is the short of it I couldn't do the 18 for 2018 so I know I won't do 19 for 2019. I am following in Elizabeth's footsteps and doing 9 this year.   I mostly took things off the 2018 list that never got done.  And the list is... 1 Shutterfly books for 2016. 2017, 2018 2 Finish Susan's afghan 3 Exercise at least 5 times a week 4 Organize Work Room 5 Work on the boys' baby books 6 Keep kitchen counter clean 7 Read 2 books out of my usual style 8 Read LESS 9 Consistent bedtime While most of the items are self-explanatory I am sure that there are a few head-scratchers on there.  In case you are interested, I expand on why each item is on the list. 1 Shutterfly books for 2016. 2017, 2018 I am remiss in creating our family photo albums and this was a failure for my 18 for 2018 so as punishment I added an extra album.  I really do like doing them this way because my kids love looking at the book and I can pseudo scrapbook this way.  I lo...

 I am looking forward to starting my Happiness Project book club with my local library.  Our first meeting is this upcoming Saturday and we are working with Chapter 1 - Energy. I was pretty happy to find myself getting excited just by re-reading that chapter and I did something that I don't normally do.  I made notes on it in my Kindle, which is crazy.  I want to go over my notes which I emailed to myself and use that to help me solidify my goals for the month for ways that I can boost my energy. I started off right by exercising this morning, which is really a huge accomplishment for me.  I am currently working on some muscle issues and am in physical therapy for them as well as taking a muscle relaxer at night.  I tried taking one during the day it was not a pretty sight.  So now I take it only at night and really I get up after it should have cleared my system but I must have some weirdo reaction to it because it is like I am encased in ceme...

As I mentioned in a previous post this week was going to be a short one, starting on Tuesday and ending on Sunday. The good, I exercised 3 out of the 6 days.  I did good things on a website that I am redesigning and I should have it ready to go live by the end of the week if not sooner. The bad, I let myself procrastinate more than I should have.  I didn't take my blood pressure as often as I should. Overall not bad, I am setting myself up for success.  I will make changes that I want and I will reach my goals.  I am looking forward to week 2, I have positive momentum on my side.

While I was dropping the kids off at school today two of the three morning hosts were ranting against all the extra gym goers in January.  They felt that they should be there in August and September, which I understand to a point but hey everyone has to start somewhere right?  And there can be safety in numbers, hitting the gym for the first time in January seems safer because you feel that there may be people like you and seem less intimidating.  And quite frankly if you start in January who is to say you won't be there in August and September, sure the numbers indicate that most will not be but some will be. The third host seemed ok with it and he held the attitude that I have, January is somewhat arbitrary however it also feels like a clean slate for some (myself included) so I completely understand how someone would want to start a new routine in January. Finally one of the two hosts that doesn't like the January invasion as I will call it, did make a great poi...

Dress for success! Fake it until you make it! Dress for the job you want not the one you have! Look good feel good! All great little inspiration type one liners right?  Well today is day one and it is an odd day for me.  Day one means excitement and  a sense of a clean slate but also it can be a bit overwhelming and daunting, so I feel like I am pulled in different directions. I started out and managed to push myself to exercise (w00t!) and then I felt myself slipping and it was only 10 AM.  It came to me in the shower, one I needed to celebrate my achievement and I needed to find some hacks if you will to help keep me motivated. What I came up with was those phrases above kept running through my head and I decided to embrace them until I made it so to speak.  While I am certainly not dressing for success today nor for the job I want just the idea of that helped me.  So I am sort of faking it right now and I did take the time for a face ...