The Happiness Project

My book group's November book was The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  Being in retail marketing, November is a busy season, and the book never got off my "wish list" on Amazon.  Luckily, my husband is sneaky, and hacked my Amazon account and bought the book for me for Christmas.  While on our trip over Christmas, I picked it up, and could not put it down!

Gretchen Rubin is on a quest to become happier.  She sets up a year of resolutions that will supposedly make her a happier person.  She resolves to be less snappy to her husband, more patient with her small children, clean out her closets, make new friends, and much much more.  Every month she takes on a new task.  In December, she tries to be perfect at all of her resolutions.  At the end, she realizes that everything that makes her happier was already in her life, but she had to appreciate it, focus on the small things, and chill out.  All of the things in her happiness project were already in her life, but she had to spend time finding or re-finding what she loved and what made her happy.

Many times, I find these types of books whiny and author-focused.  But I could really relate to Gretchen and her quest to be happier.  It wasn't that she was unhappy or unsatisfied in her life, but she felt there was something more.  Don't we all?  Don't we have a feeling that something is missing?  But Gretchen realizes that things in her life weren't missing, she was missing the important things that were already occurring in her life.

One of the ideas that really resonated with me was "the days are long, but the years are short."  Your days may be filled with meetings, appointments, work, taking care of the kids, etc.  Your day may feel 48 hours long and you still may not have enough hours to check off everything on your list.  But years pass by in the blink of and eye.  I know with me, having a job that requires event planning, I feel like, "I just did this!" but a whole year has passed!  Kids grow up, years pass.  "The days are long, but the years are short."  This makes me want to savor every moment - every dinner Austin and I spend time cooking and eating, road trip we take, moments spent with our families - they won't last forever.  And if that means I'm more laid back, less snappy, a little disorganized, spending time doing the things I enjoy are worth every minute.

As I begin the new year, I won't be starting my own happiness project, but you can bet I'm going to be more conscious of snarky comments, and try to respond to people with positive comments.  I'm going to eat better, exercise more, and make time for the small things - even when my plate is full.  And you bet I'm going to clean some closets :)   The days are long, but the years are short.


katie