On the Road to Happy

Hello. So, life is starting to feel better for me. I've been walking most days and doing a modified morning routine. I've also started making dinner again instead of just winging it every evening or asking Jim to pick up something. I do much better with a plan, and I tend to make healthier choices.

I'm slowly working on getting at least the bare bones basic house chores into my routine, and while I still wouldn't have most people over, I can see progress. I started with 5 things I want to do on a daily basis a couple days ago. The next day, I could do those pretty quickly because I had just done them the day before, so I didn't have a big mess to clean up. Then I added 5 more things. So today, I did those 10 quick little things, most of which took a minute or less. I only have 4 other house tasks today because I'm getting my hair done (way overdue). I've done the first two tasks already. I put away the clean dishes from last night and I put away the stuff that doesn't belong on the kitchen counter. I'm also planning to wash today's dishes and dry and put them away. (I don't have a dishwasher.) But, I don't have any clean dishcloths, so they are in the washer right now.

I have NOT been doing very well with sleep, which I know is part of the problem with low energy and lack of motivation and not feeling particularly cheery and bright. I could sit here berating myself for not following my own advice about the importance of sleep. (I'm great at giving people advice but not as great at following it myself.) But negativity isn't much of a motivator for me, so instead I'm just starting fresh tonight with getting to bed by 11. For that to happen, I need to head upstairs by 10:50. To make that easier, I've decided not to start anything that I know will be hard to stop by then. So no more starting an episode of something at 10:30, tempting as it may be. The characters and their challenges will still be there the next day or week or whenever I decide to tune in again to Hulu or Netflix.

I think it's interesting that the lady who wrote The Happiness Project started off her quest with getting to bed early enough to have the appropriate amount of sleep. She said it made a noticeable difference. Hmmmm. You mean I don't need 5 billion dollars and my own tropical island with a cabana and a beach boy to bring me stuff? That's good to know. But still, I definitely wouldn't refuse those things. A girl can dream, right?

So here's to getting your zzzz's and moving toward your happy place,