Several months ago I was facing down a milestone birthday, and a milestone anniversary, and the impending Growing Up of my kids. Becoming an old, boring lady was something that seemed to happen overnight, and I didn't like it. Like a lot of people in similar situations, I had become pretty complacent in my life, developed some bad habits, and become kind of insular. It was time for a change.
Opening your eyes to something like this is uncomfortable. Where do you even begin making a change to almost every part of your life? I'll admit, I was stressed out and anxious. I started with my doctor, who recommended exercise as a natural stress-buster. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a patently ridiculous suggestion, but what the heck. I started the Couch to 5k running program and I ended up loving it. I started looking up ways to relax and went down a rabbit hole of mindfulness, breathing exercises, and meditation. I read about optimism and positive affirmations, I journaled, I made gratitude lists. And I realized that it was actually working.
A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine finished reading The Happiness Project, and lent it to me. Reading it, I realized two things: that I was really unorganized when it came to practicing all of the things I'd been learning about, and I needed a place to keep track of the things I was doing. My journal acts as a little jail for negative thoughts, and I started this blog to keep a record of the positive ones.
I want to focus on my first four areas of change - relationships, mental health, physical health, and household issues. There are lots more to come if I can measure some success, but these are the four that are, right now, most important.
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