Week One Report on the (Happiness Project) Project

Okay, so this week didn't exactly pan out like I wanted. Although I wanted to focus mainly on school, that proved difficult when I only had classes three of the five days. On Tuesday, I had an IB SL work day and Wednesday, I went on a college visit to Northwest Missouri State University. So I suppose, if you want to be technical, those days did in fact focus on school. I got a lot of work done on Tuesday for the three IB classes I’m taking, and at NWMSU, I realized how much I would like going to school there. Northwest has been the only school to make me rethink going to K-State, which is where I've always seen myself going for college. Northwest has nice amenities, closer to home, (which I haven’t decided yet as a pro or con) and the tuition is about half as much. All I know for sure at this point is that I have some serious thinking to do.

As for the other aspects of the first week of the (Happiness Project) Project, I think I’m doing pretty well. I’ve been keeping up with all my homework, although getting out of a procrastination habit has been a little difficult. Just sitting on the couch seems like a much better alternative, but I know that if I wait I’ll just find more reasons not to do it. Such as on Thursday, I knew I needed to practice for the chair placement auditions that evening, so I brought home my clarinet and actually got it out and practiced for roughly an hour and a half to prepare. I was much less nervous for the audition than if I hadn't practiced first.

The one part of my plan I haven’t spent too much time on keeping things tidy. I managed to clear off my desk that was littered with papers and other various junk to make room for my new desktop computer my dad received from someone who was no longer interested in it. However, past that, I really haven’t touched my room.

One thing I have been enjoying is getting enough sleep. No, I haven’t gotten a full eight hours every day, but I do pay more attention to when I’m going to bed. Waking up after a good night’s sleep is wonderful and I have a much more relaxed start to my day. I took Rubin’s advice to go to bed as soon as you feel tired, so on Thursday, I went to my room at 8:30 and turned off the lights, which is also something she recommended. I applied this from her book, because she started her project with boosting her energy, so I knew it would be a good idea to start getting more sleep right off the bat. 

As a side note, I have also been keeping up on the mini-project I set up for all three weeks where I write down all the happy and/or good things that happen. Haidt talks about how no one person is an island, and so people need people. Nearly the entire contents of my jar is related to others and when I've spent time with them. It's becoming obvious that I'm going to need another jar before too long.

TAG Post #1

For those of you who haven’t read any previous posts, (assuming there’s people out there actually reading this thing) I have recently had the opportunity to read Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project via the Talented and Gifted class I’m taking. This wonderful memoir tells of a wife and mother of two, and her year’s journey to becoming happier. Rubin knows she is already happy, but thinks she isn’t as happy as she could be. So she sets off with a plan for 12 months that has several resolutions, focusing on one per month. In accordance with this setup, my next project in TAG will have me spend three weeks to make me happier than I already am, with one resolution per week.

For the first week of this (Happiness Project) Project, I will focus on prioritizing my life. I hope to accomplish a more relaxing state of mind and be more peaceful with whatever may happen in the weeks to come. Firstly, I need to make sure school comes first. Being a senior, I have no time to sit and waste away time I should be using to complete homework. Secondly, I have got to become more organized. My room is currently messier than my boyfriend’s… Which is certainly saying something. Cleaning it up and keeping it tidy will help me succeed with becoming more peaceful. It’s easier to get frustrated when mounds of clothes and piles of papers everywhere are distracting me. Lastly, I will be ordering myself to sleep more. I know what you must be thinking: What teenager could possibly need more sleep when they’re taking three IB classes and has early morning sectionals and desperately trying to keep up with hours of homework every night? Well, lemme tell ya, this girl will be laying down some new rules. I will be attempting to get a full 8 hours of sleep each night. Crazy as it may seem, not being incredibly tired all the time is sure to boost my happiness.

During the second week of this project, I’m going to be doing a lot more of what I love most: Writing! It’s always been a passion of mine, but it feels like I can’t find the time for it anymore. Considering I plan to major in English Literature in college, I wanted to spend some time dusting off my creative writing skills and improving them as well. So, everyday, I am going to try to spend time writing, whether it be poems, stories, or reflections. While writing, I’m going to “forget results”, another point made by Rubin in the book. I won’t edit myself or over-think anything I’m writing- I’ll just write. Another important aspect to being a good writer is being a good reader, which happens to be another favorite pastime of mine, and so I’m also going to try and read a good chunk out of the book I’ve been trying to finish for quite sometime, Inkdeath. Perhaps another goal will even be to finish it…

Finally, the last week of the (Happiness Project) Project will be all about gratitude. I love helping others, but it can be hard to remember to be thankful for what others do to help me or what I have that I take for granted. To accomplish being more thankful, I’m going to start something that will span over all three weeks. Using an idea from Pinterest, I’m going to write down all the good things that happen over the next few weeks and keep them in a jar. At the end of the project, I’ll open it and, voila, instant happiness! This way, I can reflect on the good that’s happened and be able to overlook any mishaps that happened along the way. Another thing I’m going to try to do everyday is to write a little encouraging note and give it to someone different each time. This way, I can show my appreciation for them and also increase their happiness as well, because who doesn’t love getting a cute little note randomly in their day?

Welp, that’s it; My (Happiness Project) Project in a nutshell. I’m very optimistic about this project and looking forward to being even happier than I already am at the end of these three weeks.

The Days are Long

Thanks partially to genetics, I have a pretty short temper. I'm easily annoyed and I can promise you I won’t keep it to myself. In any type of upsetting situation, my most likely reaction will to huff in irritation, respond with a snarky attitude, and leave the room as soon as possible. My brain just doesn't want to deal with it, so it tunes out any logic and immediately makes excuses for my actions.

Feeling like I'm caught in a catch-22, I constantly get frustrated when I find myself getting frustrated so damn easily. I get down on myself for being so pessimistic and complaining so often to others. I think I need to vent, so I text someone- usually without realizing that's all I ever do when I text them. I not only keep myself in a bitter mood, but I keep those I spout off to under pressure to make me feel better. Even when they give great advice, if it isn't what I want to hear, I continue to complain anyway. Feeling like a burden leads to the thought that I should just keep to myself and seem like I'm okay, even though I'm not.

Enter from stage right, Gretchen Rubin.

Rubin is the author of The Happiness Project, a memoir over the course of a year where she tackles a new resolution to make herself happier every month. What I find most inspiring is the honest, real feeling you get when reading this book. Rubin doesn't succeed right off the bat on most of her resolutions, and writing about the struggle and what she's learning from it gives a sense of hope to me. Why would I want to read a book that tells me a story of a woman with a great life who sets out to be happier, and achieves even more greatness on her first try? That would be discouraging and I'd give the book up within the first few chapters.

Pushed to do so by the book, I asked myself the million-dollar question: Was I happy?

Now, I have a pretty darn good life. I have a roof over my head, food on the table, and two parents who are still married. I have two brothers, neither one suffering from any detrimental disease. I have fantastic friends who will listen to me rant at no end time and time again. I have the most caring man I have ever met to call my own. So why was I asking myself if I was happy? Yeah, I would have to for the class, but I also needed to for my own sake. I wouldn’t want to continue whatever I was doing if it wasn’t making me happy.

And, in fact, I am happy. I haven’t always been able to say that, and sometimes it can still seem easier to be the Debbie Downer. If I learned anything from The Happiness Project, it was that people find it’s less of a hassle to just be sad. But Rubin also brought up the point that being happy doesn’t always mean feeling happy.

My favorite realization I took away from The Happiness Project is remembering that the days are long, but the years are short. Rubin took it as to mean that it reminds her to stay in the moment and not let her life, and especially the life of her kids, pass her by. To me, it also means something else at this point in my life. Even though I think high school is never going to end and time apart from my friends in college will be unbearable, all that I aim for and life after school will be here before I see it coming. And I want it that way. I want the time everyone tells me I should enjoy to go by quickly. Maybe my senior year should be the best time of my life right now… But why would I want the highest points to always be in high school? Peaking when I’m only 17, 18 years old would be disheartening.

Although the “real world” can be damn scary at times, more often than not, I wish I could be there. To be living away from my parents, supporting myself, and making my own life decisions sounds just too good to be so far away.