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!

Almost An Adult: Clean up after yoself (first)!

This little thought nugget about adulthood may seem straight forward to some of you, but it's something that I still struggle with more often than it does me any good. The struggle comes from the fact that there are two parts making up this thought.

Living back home: Am I moving towards being an Adult or back to being a Kid?

What does it mean to be an "Adult"?

As I find myself trying to survive through the swamps of "post-graduate-job-hunting-while-living-back-home-with-the-family" life, the question of whether or not I'm now an "adult" comes to mind. Sure I'm an adult in legal terms. Besides that though, do I feel like one? As much as I like to think that I've become more independent since moving out for 2 years, and having traveled and lived alone in a different country, the truth is: I don't feel like a full fledged Adult yet. But don't go calling me a kid.

Trying Something New: A Happiness Journal for 2015!

Hello and Happy 2015 to those who have stumbled on my first blog post of this year! Aka my first blog post in over 2 months...

So I found myself not knowing what to do with "blogging" since I had no "ongoing adventures" to write about after my placement abroad in Hong Kong and checking off my goal of running my first half-marathon. But I do like to write! I find it both calming and stimulating at the same time. Just like running, writing helps me think and allows me think harder about the things that are in "the back of my mind" in the everyday routine. The latter is probably what deterred me from blogging when I felt like I had nothing worth writing about. Since I'm a slow thinker, that makes me a slow writer as well. *sigh* But I digress... I'm writing now and this will be a Happy post!

Maybe this will be a year of shiny new things for this blog!

Run a Half-Marathon: CHECK!

Personal goal of completing a half-marathon before my Masters graduation: DONE!

I'm writing this a week after the actual race day and I'm still feeling the runner's high from finishing my first half-marathon. :) I've been looking up races, checking out prices and thinking about my 2015 running goals. This is completely different from my approach to running this past year, where races were only semi-planned/something that I stumbled upon. But before I run off on a tangent (!!), I'll do a mini recap of my feelings on this race (my first "big city" race experience).

Race day outfit!

They call me "Crazy"

The other morning, I was getting ready to lace up for a morning run when I had a short and unpleasant interaction that ended with my dad calling me "Crazy". I felt stung because beyond the disbelief and lack of understanding behind the comment, there was also a hint of ridicule in the word. It only occurred to me then, that doing what I like to do can seem "crazy" to other people.

My immediate reaction was to think of all the reasons why I like to run so next time this happened, I would have a rebuttal.That morning run was fueled by this anger/feeling of not having my passion for running understood and after some reflection, I realized that I didn't need to explain myself.

Maybe I'm "crazy" for:

• Paying money to run for 2 hours.

• Wanting more kilometers rather than more shuteye.

• Spending time to plan out my running routes.

• Looking for music at specific bpm (beats per minute) for my running playlist.

• Pushing my limits, both physically and mentally (especially the latter).

• Venturing into the unknown to find a path for myself (literally, since I run to places I've never been by car).

• Chasing the "runner's high".

• Running around town when most people are just rolling out of bed.

My mom once told me that when someone doesn't like something, they will have no problem naming a zillion reasons why. On the contrary, when you really like something, you probably don't have a zillion reasons. This may be hard to believe, but think about it: if you genuinely like something, you Won't Need a zillion reasons to justify yourself to anyone. You do it for yourself and just because. (Aren't moms just so wise?)

So go ahead, call me "Crazy". I probably am. But I don't care.

No amount of reasons will justify why I run because the reason is simple. I Love To Run.

I'm Running My First Half-Marathon as a Charity Run!

2 month placement abroad, followed by a month long family vacation and I can truthfully say that I need to get back to the "world of the living". The amount of relaxing this summer was much appreciated, and I am now ready to find a new sense of direction. Those who know me well will know that I always like to be working towards a goal of some form. I can't stand to be unoccupied! Without classes (bye bye student life!) and still on the hunt for a job means that I'm in a limbo. My brain has needed the past month to recuperate and readjust to this new state of affairs, since it's something I've never experienced. Now I'm slowly regaining the motivation to move onto starting the next chapter of my life, starting with tackling some personal goals.

Before flying off on vacation, I buckled down and registered to run my first half-marathon. I did this so that I would not give myself any excuses to not do it and because I like signing up for things early so that I get to feel all the anticipation that comes with racing (oh, and because of early bird fees!). In fact, this half-marathon was on my mind for much of my vacation. As my running shoes walked around the other side of the world/country with me, my mind was gearing up for this new long distance that I've challenged myself with.