PadawanOfHappiness

Image by Blue Shutters Web Design. I have been toying a lot with Gretchen Rubin's Secrets of Adulthood , specifically this one. Happiness doesn't always make you feel happy And one morning Mr. Padawan and I were talking about things that we should do because they make us feel better in the long term but really hate doing them, and it hit me that secret of adulthood applies here. So I know that I feel better when I exercise, and I don't feel better in the moment, in fact I feel pretty miserable.  But when I think about how I feel over a period of time I feel better, less stressed, less tired, happier, less likely to be snappy with my little Padawans or Mr. Padawan, I have more patient. I have tried a bunch of different exercises and I haven't found anything I love, but I have found things that I can tolerate.  But because I don't love exercise it is very easy for me to put it off (aka forget to do it) and just say oh I'll do it tomorrow.  And sure I feel good in ...

Music has the ability to greatly affect my mood, and I have specifically tuned out the radio, with the exception of one station that is new to me this year. I have tuned it out because I could not take the constant sound bites and conversations about all that was going on in the world, all the bickering, hysteria, and plain old meanness directed towards people because of their opinions, even if I disagreed with those opinions.  I needed to tune it out for my peace of mind and go to a few news sources to be informed but only on a strict basis, I would limit not only which sites I visited but the length of time I spent on them. Instead I developed a new appreciation for the vast and varied music collection that Mr. Padawan and I had amassed ( see here ).  So while I don't really have a good handle on any current Pop music I am ok with that, I have been introduced to other artists that have been around for a while I just never knew about them. That radio station that I found and ...

I saw a friend of mine post on Facebook looking for hacks to survive quarantine and the discussion was about how their kids put them to bed now.  How much was tongue in cheek I don't know but it got me thinking that overall I am doing better than I thought I would be. To be honest I think it has largely been due to the fact that for the most part I have embraced my nature and what works best for my family.  I am going I am going to share what works for my family maybe it will work well for yours or at least inspire you to make some changes that allow you to embrace your nature and how your family works. Schedules Oh I have always loved my schedules, and for once I tried to just let go of control and fly by the seat of my pants and schedules be damned.  I really did, I thought everyone seems to say just let go and enjoy the ride so why not.  Well the thing is that there was so much out of my control that letting go left me even further adrift.  Once I got back to...

I have been continuing to surround myself with what I want and what I need.  I am feeling better with my faith but I know that I am still in the woods so I am still listening to K-Love on my walks and sometimes longer. I am still struggling but I know that with all the crap that I have gone through I know that God has been walking beside me and been my cheerleader pushing me forward when I don't think I can go on.  And I realized that I was breaking down and my steps were getting slower and I didn't think I would be able to walk forward anymore,  all of this was running through my head while I was mowing the lawn, which I REALLY DID NOT WANT TO DO, and then all of a sudden I saw an image in my mind that looked like this. Yes really like this, because this is the very similar to a print that I had growing up in my house.  And well it was what I needed, because I slowly realized I don't need to push and I can break because God has me and he will carry me forward until ...

I am really trying to avoid chocolate, wine, sweets, baked goods indulgences because in the long run they are not good for me.  So I need to think of a list of 'good' indulgences to pick from so that I don't have to think too hard when I need one.  This is the list that I have come up with so far: Rain boots - This will be an Easter Bunny gift so it will be here soon. Sulfate free shampoo and conditioner.  I haven't made the switch because I have been afraid of having crazy greasy hair or something for a bit.  I have read (aka skimmed articles on the internet) that as your hair/body adjusts to not having it stripped of healthy oils after you stop using sulfates in your shampoo it can overcompensate and be greasy.  Why not use this time when I won't be seeing many people other than my family, while I try the new shampoo and if it is overly greasy for a while, oh well no biggie.  And yes I do find that my hair is frizzy, my scalp is kind of itchy occasio...

I spent most of my time off Facebook today because I knew it would be a struggle today, while we had a great day yesterday and I was coming out of my Friday Flail (yeah I like that better than meltdown) today it was cold, gray, rainy and therefore just miserable. It didn't start that way at all, in fact, it started out gloriously, Mr.Padawan got up with the kids and they stayed quiet.  I woke up and then spent an extra 10-15 minutes just relishing being in bed alone and it was all quiet because they thought I was still asleep.  BEST PRESENT EVER!  The kids made waffles under the supervision of Mr. Padawan, so there were more chocolate chips in those waffles than there should have been but, whatevs I realized that this was not a battle I had to control. I did get out for my walk, it was cold and rainy and if I didn't have wet feet I would have stayed out longer.  I did end up cruising Facebook and found that Gretchen Rubin had shared CNN's article " The introver...

In case anyone was wondering I am no longer mad, I wasn't even really mad yesterday but I forgot to post anything.  But things worked out pretty much as I expected, I vented my frustrations and acknowledged that I was mad and it helped me release it.  The reality is that holding it was hurting me and venting it while not allowing me to change anything in the past, and probably not really affecting things in the future, it did change me and that was the most important thing. For me I find that the more I take a few minutes (or a day) to just be mad and understand why I am mad helps me work it out of my system.  I embrace it and pretty much let the fire of mad run its course and burn out.  Sometimes I blog about it and other times I will use music therapy and listen to an album that I define to be angry and by the end of the album my fire has pretty much extinguished itself.  My go to album for years has been Jagged Little Pill but there are others that work a...

So here is the deal, yesterday was mostly good but it had a few bumps in the road.  Basically, we started with a plan and a loose schedule, I didn't want to get too ridged because I thought that would backfire on us, but I didn't want it open ended because that would definitely backfire.  One of the biggest things we needed to work out was actually between Mr. Padawan and me because we are the adults here and while this situation is tough we are slightly better equipped to deal with the situation. The end result was that we agreed that because Mr. Padawan's work is more time-sensitive and he is the money winner in the family he needed to focus on work.  To help both him and the kids he needs to be in the office (potentially with the door closed all the time) so that it helps the kids understand that Dad is busy and he cannot play with them despite the fact that he wants to.  This also helps him because it will limit the interruptions, they are used to seeing him a...