Due to missing several blogging days, mostly due to illness this past month, I haven’t mentioned my Happiness Project in a while. My goals for January were centered around cleaning and decluttering. Did I do everything I wanted to? No, not really. But I did make a lot of progress. My office is neater and more conducive to work. I’ve straightened out several things in my bedroom that keeps it from getting as messy as it used to.

Things I still need to work on:

• Going to bed early. This is the number one thing. I have the hardest time doing it because I am such a night owl. I’d happily stay up until midnight or one o’clock, which doesn’t work so well when one is expected to be up by six.
• I also didn’t add any exercise to my daily routine at all. The good news is that I switched offices at work. We work in a two story building and now, my office is on the second floor. That means a lot more moving around, since a lot of the people I deal with are still on the first floor. I need to dig out my pedometer and see just how many steps I’m getting in now.

Other things to work on:

• Getting my closets cleaned out. This goal went completely by the wayside, which is sad because I think it would be very easy to accomplish in an afternoon on the weekend. I can’t do it this weekend, but next weekend, it is on!
• Completing any of my “nagging tasks.” I didn’t even touch them.

So now it’s February and with the new month comes a new focus. Oh, I’ll still continue to work on January’s goals, but now it’s time to add another layer to it. And is it any surprise that February is all about marriage and relationships? Mostly, I think my husband and I have a pretty good marriage. It’s not perfect, but I don’t know anyone who has a perfect marriage. I don’t think that really exists. As I read through the February chapter, I had to think about things to work on, things to change. There are five main points that Gretchen Rubin uses for this month.

1. Quit nagging.
2. Don’t expect praise or appreciation.
3. Fight right.
4. No dumping.
5. Give proofs of love.

The very first thing that I am going to do is talk this over with my husband. It’s easy for me to sit here and say, “But I don’t nag. I never nag!” Just because I can’t think of an example doesn’t mean I don’t do it. We tend to think of our nagging as justified, and therefore excuse it. The other points are just as hard to see from my point of view, which is why I need to figure out exactly where my weaknesses are by being up front and honest (although #5 seems pretty straightforward, and is definitely something I need to work on).

So the Happiness Project is chugging right along. Is it helping? Am I happier? In some ways, I can easily say, “Yes.” There are some stressful things that have been removed from my life, just with a little focus and work on my part. Hopefully that will keep increasing as I add more levels to the project as a whole.

Categories: The Happiness Project

Tags: books, goals, gretchen rubin, happiness, the happiness project