For the second time, I am reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. This time around I am actually implementing a few tips she learned along her happiness project into my everyday life to help me feel happier, and not get as irritated about the little things. Understand, I am very happy with my life…but just like Gretchen, she just believes she can be happier and more appreciative of the awesomeness around her.

How can I make my day-to-day life run more smoothly? What are the little things I can change to make my life less stressful?

I thought out what gets me annoyed? Once I figured those things out, I needed to come up with few strategies to try and see if they would make me happier or at least less irritated about silly things. Hey, at least I am being honest admitting that sometimes I let the bullshit get under my skin when all I need to do is make a little adjustment in my behavior.

 Laundry: Lord knows I do not like doing laundry and because of that, I wait until I’ve worn everything in my closet before I wash. Which in return just creates a massive amount of clothes to wash. It bothers the heck out me because I have to spend a whole weekend sorting, washing and folding.

Behavior I need to change: Waiting to wash…INSTEAD I should wash a load of clothes every other day. Small loads take less time out of my schedule! It’s been working… I was almost ever other day and I haven’t been annoyed, because it takes less than 15 minutes to fold and put everything away.
Wake up earlier… AGAIN: I am an early riser, but recently because of the weather change I’ve been staying in bed a little longer. When I stay in bed for the extra 30min instead of getting up…I end up stressing myself.

Sunrise… Gives me a piece of mind…

Behavior I need to change: I want to get back to waking up at 5am, so this week I will push myself to wake up between 5:30 -6:00 am. Take the small steps to get me back in routine.

Madonna: Madonna is my sweetheart of a dog. I love her but there are certain areas of the house I really don’t want her to enter and certain furniture I don’t want her to lay on. Example: the kitchen. Honestly, this is the one place I just don’t want her to enter (besides the bathroom). Lately, I’ve found myself getting annoyed that she continues to follow us into the kitchen and we have to yell at her “Get out the Kitchen!” multiple times. It was draining, plus making me upset with her over something very small. It was stressing me…

My little bratty lovebug… Madonna!

Behavior I changed: I GAVE UP! No more telling Madonna to get out the kitchen, unless we are cooking. One Friday night, I was in the kitchen making a cocktail, and like clockwork, Madonna followed me into the kitchen. I stared at her and was about to yell, but I didn’t.  I decided that I just didn’t care anymore. We will just sweep everyday (our kitchen is small) and mop every few days with the Swiffer. Seriously, it’s been a couple of weeks and my stress level has dropped and Madonna doesn’t seem to really be going into the kitchen enough for me to even notice.

Getting Dressed: Last year, I purged my closet and only kept the things that I really liked, classic pieces that are timeless. My life was so much easier because I liked everything in my closet. Getting dressed in the morning was a breeze.

I had less but it felt like I had more.

Since then, I’ve gained happy weight. The weight gain has made it a little more difficult to get dressed in the morning because everything is a little snug. I was becoming more and more frustrated every day. I’m in the process of getting back to a place with my weight were I’m happy, but recently, I was stressing about what to wear every day. 

Behavior I changed: I was so caught up in wanting to fit the clothes I had, that I refused to purchase anything new. I had to get over it. So I went shopping. I only purchased things that fit well now and would look just as good when I lose a few pounds. I am turning 30 and knew I was planning on creating a uniform for myself. Mostly sticking to wearing black and neutral colors including leopard print! I took a few weekend to go shopping alone and purchased things that I REALLY LIKED! I feel comfortable and my confidence level is rising and I’m no longer stressed in the morning about what to wear. I’ve separated my closet into two sections, one side with the clothes that still don’t quite fit, and the other side with clothes I can wear with confidence. I only focus on clothes that I feel good in. Once a week, I try “the still don’t quite fit clothes” on and if an article of clothing looks good again I add it back to the confident pile!

These are small behavior changes that have given me big results. I am going to continue reading and adding new strategies as needed to my life. If anything is annoying me or adding stress, I am going to start taking a moment to think about how I can fix the situation that is stressing me. I am so blessed and appreciative of everything in my life, but sometimes I need to take a moment, give thanks, and make sure I am living the best life I can with limited stresses.

Until Next Time,

xoxo

Alysha

@DiscoverCharmCity