My Happiness Journal- January

Gretchen Rubin used "Vitality" as January's theme for her happiness project. She wanted to start her year off with more physical and mental energy, which sounds like a logical idea to me! Her first chapter touched on how she went about doing that with these action items:

• Go to sleep earlier
• Exercise better
• Toss, restore, organize
• Tackle a nagging task
• Act more energetic

So... What did I do this month after reading January of the Happiness Project? Watch out, this is a LONG post!

Honestly, the first chapter of this book was very short. After reading it, I feel the need to do some room reorganization, starting with my desk drawers and bookshelf. But shortly after that task, I got lost in the "grind" of job hunting and Gretchin Rubin's energy boosting ideas got pushed into the back of  my head. But I just reread the topics that follow under Gretchen's theme of Vitality and I find that I actually did a few things that were on her list!

Something about light clouds, blue skies, greenery and the Giant Buddha that calms me. :)

Organizing physical space for mental clarity
This is something I really believe in. A messy room is not going to conducive to thinking clearly! In fact, I did some reorganizing of my room when I was settling in back at home in August last year. The shifting around of furniture helped me feel a teensy bit more in control of the limbo state that I was entering at the time. (Little did I know that it would last this long... But I digress).

Throughout the first week of this month, I did some desk and shelf cleaning in my room. And here are some things I discovered:

Pay attention to when you have Lots of something:

• If that something is meaningful to me, it should deserve its own space: My (dad's) old film cameras seem to be hanging off the edge of my book shelves. And I know I use them! So I gave them their own shelf space that they deserve. =)
• And time: I have a looooot of books... I need to find more time to read said books. In fact, this month I read one of them! Lionel Shriver's We Need To Talk About Kevin. I am going to attempt to stay away from the library while I go through my own unread collection.
• If that something only has a place in the "Someday" of your life, there's some rethinking to do: I keep a lot of things that I feel "will be useful someday" like undergraduate memorabilia  (all the useful freebies!!! But seriously, I don't need to keep my Frosh t-shirt, pamphlets, stickers, lanyards, free condoms and all the random stuff to remember my Frosh. The t-shirt is enough.), assorted boxes and bags. They take up space! That I could be using Now! So I threw out a lot of random stuff out that I really did not need to use within my imaginable future. Bye bye frosh landyards! Not to my surprise, I do not miss them. =)

Exercise more
This month, I definitely tried to create a regular exercise routine for myself to stay motivated about my fitness and ultimately achieve my 2015 running goals. Since I have not learned to run in the winter (yet! Someday...), I decided to use the remainder of this season to regular training at the gym. In mid January, I discovered that getting a monthly pass at my local recreation centre was a better deal, so I purchased it to keep me on top of my goal of establishing a 3x a week gym routine. Since the purchase, it's been working. =)

Another way I'm staying motivated through a marathon relay team! I discovered the benefits of being part of a running community when I ran with Fearless Dragon in Hong Kong last summer. But since then, I've gone back to running alone. When I saw that the Goodlife Toronto Marathon in May has a relay option, I thought: A relay would be fun! But I had a problem: I don't have any running friends...

With running friends from Fearless Dragon... who are in Hong Kong. So far away!

So I started asking around! I met friends that run from friends who don't run, recruited friends who are new to running, learned about some fellow Runivores and soon I had an excited relay team! It's the first time running a relay for all of us, and we plan on meeting up monthly to run and/or socialize, while also training independently. Meeting fellow running enthusiasts definitely added more energy to my January and keeps me on track with my gym routine!

Think positive: What are some things I accomplished today?"
Job hunting has been the top item on my 2015 To Do list. Anyone who's gone through a long job hunting process will agree that it's hard to stay positive. There'll be days where I'm looking and looking, applying to this and that, but I just feel like I'm going nowhere. Fast. But then an encouraging email from one friend, or positive news from another, will give me a little dose of hope. And I'll think, "The next one will be me!" Job hunting is a roller coaster. The wooden kind that feels all rickety and definitely not for the faint of heart. While some may be thinking of going back to school to escape, I feel that doing that would just be getting in line for another roller coaster. You'll still get your turn on it sooner or later. It's better to ride it out so you can get off and on with your life.

One thing that an OT told me to do at the end of a day on placement, was to think about what I accomplished or did well that day. I still try to do this on most days. In a time of your life when you're living in uncertainty, there's bound to be criticism coming in left, right and center (whether it be constructive or not at all). You're already being told how you're not meeting certain expectations, what you're lacking and what your mistakes are positive self-talk is important! At the end of the day, you've got to believe in yourself. Positive self-talk!! Left over chocolates from the holidays helps too.

And another way that helps me stay in a positive mindset is staying in touch with supportive people in my life. Not the people who have great ideas for how they think you can improve your situation, nod knowingly at your issues and divert the topic to other things, hoping all your troubles will go away "soon". But people who are understanding because they've listened to you, and remain hopeful for you because they believe in you too.

Here's some advice a friend gave me when I asked for tips for job hunting while living back at home: "Never give up, put yourself first, you miss 100% of shots not taken, stay true to yourself, you're not alone, just do it, self-love, time is money, smell the roses, impossible is nothing, say hi to the cute ones." Pretty straight forward of them. It was literally all in one message and it hit all the right notes for me. (The last bit was actually my advice to them at one point. Funny how things get turned around eh?)

Sleep earlier
I put this last because I continually fail to do this. "Sleep earlier" has been something that I've tried throughout my childhood, undergrad, masters degree and all the times in between. Yes, even on vacation. This task is such common sense for boosting energy levels, but I just... never seem to get around to doing it! Despite how sleeping earlier would technically get me more rest, it feels like I'm cutting my day short... Short of the productivity that could be happening. In fact, most of my blogging is done at night. But more than half the time, I'm up late watching shows on my computer/reading/or just dilly dallying online... Old habits die hard!

However, I have found that I feel more "closure" in the day by using a checklist. That is, to have checked things off a list or by writing a list for tomorrow. This gives a sense that I can shut off mentally... but I'll be honest. It'll take a lot more will power and routine to change this. I think having a job would help. XP

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Despite how I'm still unemployed. Writing this first post of my Happiness Journal has made me feel like I've accomplished something positive. Hopefully, reading it has left you with hope and positive energy going into February!

More to come as I read more of the Happiness Project...