Day 52

I have been working on my Happiness Project, and I am still enforcing my January resolutions in February. For those that don’t know, a Happiness Project was inspired by Gretchen Rubin, about how she makes monthly resolutions in various aspects of her life. Each resolution is to help add happiness in her life. I was inspired to start my own Happiness Project. Feel free to get caught up if you haven’t already…

/http://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/my-happiness-project/

Gretchen has written a book documenting her journey, tilted The Happiness Project. It was an inspirational book.

One of her rules that I have been working on, too, is if it takes 60 seconds or less, don’t procrastinate and don’t get that task done. Get it done now. The amount of energy and stress we have of constantly thinking about this task, and ways to avoid it, is actually more exhausting than doing the actual task at hand. I am slowly reminding my boyfriend about this rule, too. I think that it is a good rule to have and enforce in your house.

Today, I spent about 5 minutes doing various one minute chores, like cleaning a dirty mirror.

One minute tasks include hanging up your coat when you walk in the door, adding more toilet paper to the bathroom, putting your clothes in your hamper, instead of on the floor, and I know they are so many other tasks like this, that for some reason we keep pushing off.

Today, I will focus on getting tasks that no time at all now, instead of wasting time and energy waiting to schedule those tasks in my day, or do it another day. It is best to do things as they happen, instead of waiting to do them later. We can actually save energy, and be less stressed, as well.

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Day Two

Let’s about engaging in healthy exercise habits. We should go out for walks, eat healthy, and continuing to move our bodies. Studies say; “Sitting is the new smoking.”, which means sitting is nearly as bad as smoking. It is important to start the day with being active.

Let’s start small, and continue to build ourselves up. Learn to spend 15, 20 minutes just focusing on moving our body, and continue to be active. If you aren’t someone who has made a lot of time in the past to exercise, it will take a bit of time to get into the habit of exercising. But there is no reason to be hard on yourself, and give up.

We just got to put in some time and energy. Which is important to start small, because you don’t want to over do it and hurt yourself in the process. It also becomes less stressful if you don’t think about the results, instead of you just do it, to better yourself, so you can reap the benefits of exercising. There are many benefits to exercising. And there are a variety of ways that count towards exercising like stretching, taking a walk, lifting weights, riding a bike, swimming, etc. Some of these benefits of exercising include a healthy of way to destress, improve cognitive thinking, increased immune system, better sleep, and so many other benefits.

Although I would recommend not exercising too close to bedtime, since it might recharge you, where you become too alert to fall asleep.

Today, I will put some effort and energy into exercising. In the process I will not compare myself to others, instead I will just focus on my abilities. I will show up every day to better myself. I will think of the benefits, instead of the pain.

January Resolutions 2021

This is the first chapter of my My Happiness Project. It is where I discuss small habits that can add so much value and happiness in my every day life. I was inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project. Every month, I focus on a new aspect of my life. This month’s theme is Boosting Energy. Every first day of the month, I will write about my resolutions, and why I think they will help. On the last day I will report back on how I did, and if it actually helped me increase my happiness. To see all of the other upcoming months, check them out here,

http://threeyellowdaisies.ca/category/my-happiness-project/

My Resolutions

1. Get more sleep
2. Exercise More
3. Organize
4. Tackle a nagging task

Get More Sleep

The past few years, we have been known to work more hours, more than ever before. Working longer at work can negatively impact our happiness, because we often have less time for the things that matter to us, like our relationships, hobbies, and properly taking care of ourselves. I know that everyone is in a different situation than others, so I can understand where you are coming from if some nights may be more difficult than other nights. I just wished there was a way that we didn’t have to put our bodies through so much.

So because we are working a lot more than we have compared to the previous decades, we need to take proper care of our bodies. And one way to do that is ensure that we are getting enough sleep each night. Some nights may be more challenging than others, but it is still important to try.

Our adult bodies should be getting at least 7.5 hours, although some people say that they can function on less, others need more. Perhaps it takes you awhile to fall asleep. Here are my tips for you!

1. If you can, refrain yourself from screens (phone, TV) at least one hour before bed
2. Drink sleepy time tea
3. Write in a journal (your thoughts, some chores and errands for the next day)
4. Read a book (preferably one that doesn’t deal with stressful topics like money, business, cookbooks, these just don’t seem like they would be helpful before bed)

My plan is to create an evening and morning routine to help me with this transtition.

Exercise More

I plan on taking more walks in my neighbourhood. My goal is to walk at least 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes every day. I will start off small, and increase the more I walk. I’m really excited for these new changes in my life. I might even download some Tedtalks, and or some audiobooks for my walks.

I will try to make healthier dietary choices as well. I will limit my intake on take out, sugary foods, and drinks.

Organize

Because I have already gotten rid of some things already, it is time to work on organizing things around my room again. This time is a bit different, because I am enforce my boyfriend to do the one minute rule, which is if takes less than one minute to do, you can’t postpone from the task at hand. Some of these things include hanging up a sweater, or a coat when you come in from outside. Put something back where it belongs. “Do what ought to be done.” – Gretchen Rubin.

Tackle a Nagging Task

Like Gretchen Rubin says in her book, having a long to-do list drains energy, we should slowly work on tackling tasks that we continue to push off, and not do. We probably waste more energy and thought process on ways to avoid this task than if we did this actual task itself.

Conclusion

I cannot wait to get started in this journey. I will keep track of my tasks using a check list. I’m really excited! If anyone else is wanting to partake in this journey, please keep me updated. I would love to see other posts.

Sleep

It’s Friday, so that means it’s time for another post of Feel Good Friday. This post is meant to help us feel better about ourselves in small, easy ways. I’m not asking us to make drastic changes about ourselves. But if we start small, we are able to change so much, and become even more happier.

We must ensure that we give our bodies adequate rest every night. When our phones are about to run out of battery, we don’t expect them to go into overtime, and keep on working past their limits. We simply recharge them, and let them regain their strength. But when it comes to us, we push ourselves into overdrive. We expect so much from ourselves. Even without recharging our batteries.

If you need to continue working on a daunting task, but you are exhausted already, perhaps you can take a 20 minute nap before you jump into the task at a hand. Taking a 20 minute nap will do wonders. It will help you focus again when you wake up. It will allow you to be refreshed, and you won’t feel overtried from taking the 20 minute nap.

Perhaps after your nap, you can make yourself a cup of matcha tea, depending on what time it is, because you don’t want to have that much caffeine that close to bedtime.

Just continue on making sure your body gets enough rest throughout the night. Sleep is really important. It’s one of the most important ways to ensure you work on having a healthy lifestyle.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year! I hope everyone is having an amazing start to the year so far.

What to expect from me, Three Yellow Daisies AKA Julianne? Well, I am keeping everything the same, but for right now I am not going to be holding off on my daily decluttering mission for the time being. Instead I am going to be focusing on My Happiness Project. It’s where each month I focus on making small changes in my life in order to bring in more joy and happiness into my life. This month’s theme is ways to boost my energy. Although there is a topic about possessions coming up shortly, so that is where I will continue my decluttering journey. More on this shortly.

You are all welcome to partake in either My Happiness Project, or Gretchen Rubin’s book called The Happiness Project, or if you like you can make your own. It’s totally up to you.

If any point, you feel inspired, feel free to let me know, or you can spread joy, by telling a friend, or a family member about how this blog has helped you. I would love and appreciate that.

Even though the majority of us aren’t able to travel to new places, it doesn’t mean that we have to stay where we are. We can embrace new places, whether it’s getting promoted at work, or going to school, or talking a walk in a new neighbourhood. Staying where we are, doesn’t mean anything bad. It just means we have to embrace what we have. No storm lasts forever. Remember that. Instead embrace new beginnings and new opportunities.

Here’s to new beginnings, and hopefully a lot of happiness.

Thrive

Here is your weekly quote, always remember that the power is always in you, no matter what. You might not have enough energy today, but tomorrow is always a new day, so learn to not be so hard on yourself.

The chapter we are going through in our lives, is different from someone else’s lives, so it is a waste of energy to compare yourself to someone else’s chapter. Focus on you, and keep on thriving for greatness. Never sell yourself short.

Energy

Today I learnt that it’s important to conserve your energy to make it last throughout your day. It’s important to keep it simple.

I will work on pacing myself and knowing my limits.