The Happiness Project 1.0

I mentioned in my last post that I have slowed down in my reading. When all was said and done at the end of January, I had 12 books down and was feeling like 100 books in 365 days wasn't going to be any kind of challenge at all. Welcome to February. Something you should know about me, I don't find meaning in numbers. Ok, maybe my bank account but besides that not so much. I say things like "I slept for a million hours last night" and "I got a bazillion flowers for my birthday" or "I drank like 100 glasses of water today" or "I did that like ten times faster." Not being accurate with numbers and especially making numbers up is something I do regularly.

The number 100 is an ambiguous one to me. I know it is real and that it comes after 99 and just before 101, I promise I'm not stupid. 100 is just a number that I commonly throw around. It isn't real to me. I can say "I'm going to do 100 laps" and I probably wouldn't think about actually doing 100 laps. The number 85 on the other hand is real. It became even more real on a birthday card from my brother and sister-in-law. At the bottom on the card it says, "Here's to you and the next 85 books!!" When I read that all I could think was Holycow! I didn't bat an eyelash about reading 100 books, but 85? I'm not so sure. Not to mention the fact that I was seriously slowing down with all the distractions I'd been allowing myself to enjoy. So this past three week I've been feeling a little weighed down by resolutions (mostly my bookcase).

My book shelf.

Two books deep in some places.

Note to readers: There are not 82 book here that I haven't read.

I need recommendations!

Update Book ?: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Why the question mark?? Well it is unfinished. I haven't finished it, but have read books in between. This is something I never do. Reading multiple books at one time is uncharted territory for me. But, I have good reason. I truthfully wish this had been the first book of my challenge. "The Happiness Project," is basically a more structured version of my challenge. She has created 12 resolutions, one for each month. Each month she adds a new resolution and by December she plans to have all of them be in practice.

Inspired I am. Reading quickly, I am not.

One of the hardest parts of this challenge has been picking up book after book with no rest period. Sometimes I finish a book that I have enjoyed so much, a book that sincerely affects me in one of those "I can't stop thinking about it" sort of ways, that the idea of picking up another story to read is unfathomable. With a deadline like the one I have set for myself there isn't much room for rest periods. Enter "The Happiness Project." It is going to be my in-between book. Something that makes me think about other resolution I can make to be happier and healthier.

So far, the first part of the book has been the most enjoyable. She sets up 12 happiness commandments as well as a list of "secrets of adulthood." So guess what I did? I made my own list of Secrets of Happiness Commandments. Stealing several from her two lists I have 19 in all (9 and 19 are my favorite numbers and 9 just wasn't enough). So here goes:

Elisa's Secrets of Happiness Commandments

1. Be Elisa.

2. Act the way I want to feel.

3. Be humble. Be Proud (where appropriate).

4. Enjoy the process.

5. Let it go, there is only love.

6. Identify the problem.

7. Outer order contributes to inner calm.

8. It doesn't have to make sense.

9. It's ok to ask for help.

10. People don't notice my mistakes and flaws as much as I think.

11. The days are long but the years are short.

12. You can choose what you do; you can't choose what you like to do. And It's ok if what you don't like to do is something other people like to do.

13. If you aren't failing, you're not trying hard enough.

14. You don't have to be good at EVERYTHING and you don't have to please EVERYONE.

15. Check off things from your ToDo List

16. Remember what is REALLY important.

17. Don't expect others to act/react/feel/like the same way/things you do.

18. Eat healthy, sleep more, get moving

19. Don't second guess yourself.

So there you have it. This entire time I've been making up resolutions, I've really been creating a Happiness Project.