Last updated on April 23rd, 2021 at 08:55 pm
It’s far too easy to be miserable.
Sadly, many of us get so wrapped up in our lives’ issues that we fail to focus on the things that inspire us to keep going, even when our lives aren’t quite where we’d like them.
When I was younger, marriage and children never factored into my plans—I just figured if I kept working at my ideas, I’d eventually sort everything out. “Build it and they shall come,” right?
Years down the road and that drive’s still very much alive, spurring me to chip away at ideas in the dead of night; never leaving me satisfied with any degree of success, always pushing me to fight for more; all while juggling priorities and handling things in my work and family lives.
Why do I bother? Why sacrifice sleep and energy on something that’s essentially just a glorified hobby? What’s the appeal?
I do it because it makes me happy.
100 Days of Happy
Sarah and I are going to try something new—starting today, for 100 days, we’re going to document things that make us happy. It might sound cheesy, idealistic or simply silly to some people out there, but we’ve had decades of practice overcomplicating our lives when we get deep into our adult years—misery loves company, and it’s all too easy to quit on a positive outlook and let the world drag us down. We don’t care that it takes triple the muscles to frown than it does to smile. We don’t care that many of the problems we often have are of our own making, and we can often just as easily walk away from them if we’re ready to admit our mistakes and swallow the pride. The issue is that we live our lives reaching after what we think makes us complete according to the world around us and societal pressures instead of asking one simple question —
“What makes you happy?”
If you want to sign up for the challenge, the registration process is quick and painless. If you want to follow along and see my 100 things, I’ll be sharing them daily on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and my blog with the #100HappyDays hashtag, and I hope they inspire others to take a more critical look at their lives, figuring out what brings them joy, and what just get them down. Life is a gift. You won’t always see it in the moment, but life’s packed with possibilities, and one single thing shouldn’t hold us back from finding the life that’s right for us
So 100 days. 3½ months. A little under a third of the year to look at the things that keep me going and put them exactly where I should to keep it that way—front and centre.
I’m ready for more happiness — how about you?
