I'm a month into my attempt to bring more happiness into my life; January is in the books and it's time to check in, to make myself accountable. For January my resolution was to Have More Energy and I picked six strategies to keep me. My results were mixed, partly because I didn't work hard enough at it, partly because life got in the way. At least I'm moving forward and the things I've put into place this month will continue into the rest of the year, they just won't be the focus.
1. Get More Sleep - utter and complete failure on this one, except on the weekends but that's only because I never had to get up on the weekends so I could sleep in. But then I felt guilty about wasting so much of the day in bed. I'm working on some things to help me be better at getting to bed earlier because I'm sure sleep is the key to much of what's to come.
2. Get Moving - I am doing better at getting to the gym more (although still not as often as I want to) and I started doing yoga at home. I'm making sure that I get up more often at work, too. If nothing else, I feel better about myself for doing these things.
3. Drink More Water - I'm killing it on this one, especially during the work week. I'm noticing markedly less dry skin so that's a good incentive to keep it up.
4. Act More Energetic - Eh. The key to this one was not to sit down after dinner, to stay in motion. But that's so much easier said than done. Warmer weather will help - yard work, no need to stay curled in a corner of the sofa just to stay warm.
5. Eat Better - We've been planning meals much more, making sure to include more fruits and vegetables in our meals and I've taken a piece of fruit for lunch almost every day.
6. Take Care Of Yourself - This was meant to be my kick in the butt to schedule doctor's appointments. That hasn't happened. Yet. But it's on my calendar for the coming week.
What I learned this month:
The steps need to have some way to be measured. February is going to be tougher to measure so I'm going to have to give that some thought this weekend.
Just putting the Happiness Project resolution for the month on my monthly bullet journal page is not enough. I need to add the steps to my daily to-do lists to keep them front and center.
On to February!
Sounds like you made more progress than you think. Good luck with February. Some things will likely be easier with more light in the evenings and warmer temps.
ReplyDeleteThe going to bed early part is always challenging for me. I'm much more of a night owl and am never at my best in the mornings so even if I'm getting a lot of sleep all that really happens is I feel like I'm missing out! I've been wanting to do a project like this as well but have struggled with how to measure it. I'm looking forward to seeing how February goes and what changes you make!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of this Happiness Project. From what you've written you've done so well this past month. Good luck in Feb :)
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