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It has almost been one whole month since I started my happiness project! If you don’t have any clue what I’m talking about you can go here. I’ve been reflecting on the past few weeks and if my resolutions are actually making me happier or not. Read on to find out!

Family Vacation

A week or two ago, we headed out for family vacation! This was our first actual “family vacay” that we planned out, not tagging along with our parents on a vacation they planned out for us. First off, I will say, I have a new appreciation for my mom planning out family vacations when we were younger. And she didn’t even have google! Or cell phones! I don’t know how she navigated those treacherous times but I am impressed to say the least. And all of the vacations that my mother in law planned out for us in the last 10-15 years; I am so grateful. On vacation I tried to stick to my resolutions. A few mornings, I totally slept in. I mean, it’s vacation, right?! But the rest of the time I rose early, got ready, and quietly headed out our hotel door as everyone else slept. I grabbed a coffee and chocolate croissant and sat by myself, enjoying the treats. My view was GORGEOUS and those mornings that I rose early and had a little bit of time to myself, made me happy! I wasn’t necessarily happy dragging myself out of bed early in the morning but a truth I am learning through this process: doing things that don’t make me happy, can create happiness.

On vacation, I was barely on my phone which was refreshing. I was definitely more present with my family and really found that I didn’t miss my social media apps. Still makes me ponder the idea of taking a break from them all for an extended period of time.

Back to Reality

Vacation was wonderful but once we came back, I will say I struggled with some of my resolutions. For some reason, the week after we came back home, I couldn’t fall asleep at night. In the end I reached for my phone to entertain myself instead of grabbing a book. This created me sleeping in not all, but most of the mornings. Doing this made me feel already behind as I started my day. I know I’m not going to be perfect with all of my resolutions but I am irritated with myself that I already allowed myself to sleep in and broke my resolution of staying off of my phone in the evenings.

Toss, Re-store and Organize

Once we got back from vacation I tackled the art closet, went through all the games and threw out ones with missing pieces (more than what you would think) and put up some items for sale on Facebook that we’ve been needing to get rid of for a long time. Something I already knew but was reminded of is, when a space is cleaned, organized and simplified, kids will play. (And they will then destroy what you cleaned.) 🙂 Joking. But not really.

The girls’ toys and clothes probably create the most clutter in our home but I’ve always struggled with keeping them organized for the simple fact, we have a plethora of them and every year we just keep getting more. I first told myself, I would wait til’ the girls started school again to organize their toys but on Sunday I decided to wait no longer. I don’t even want to tell you how long I spent going through toys and organizing them but when I was done it made me feel so happy! Aubree and Brielle helped me and surprisingly didn’t throw fits when I made them choose some items to donate. As I went through their toys I asked myself, “Do I see the girls playing with these ever?” If the answer was no, I donated it. By the end of the night my whole backseat was filled to the brim with toys and other random items and this morning I dropped them off to be donated.

Something I Learned About Myself & About Happiness

When I was smack dab in the middle of organizing toys, Matt asked me if I wanted to go golfing. We went as a family last weekend and it was a lot of fun. Definitely took us way longer to finish 9 holes, but fun nonetheless. I really wanted to go but I knew if I stopped right in the middle of my toy organizing project it would be hard to start again. So he left to golf and I stayed back with a few of the girls to continue on. Inside I felt annoyed that he got to go golfing and I was stuck at home going through 100’s of tiny little barbie shoes, accessories and God knows what else. I was maybe feeling a little sorry for myself. After doing some self reflecting I realized some truths:

1. Being happy doesn’t mean you get to do everything you want to do, when you want to do it.
2. Being happy a lot of times means sacrificing something else that will make you happy. You choose which one to do.
3. What makes me happy, isn’t going to be necessarily what makes someone else happy.
4. When I do choose to do something not super fun to create more happiness, I shouldn’t expect others to do the same.
5. Feeling sorry for myself creates unhappiness.

At the end of the day, it was my decision to stay back, not Matt’s. Would I of loved for him to help me? YES! But, I’m sure he would love for me to help him mow the lawn which I’ve maybe done once in like 10 years. Also, in all honesty, I’m better at Matt than organizing, just like he’s better than me at taking care of the lawn so we should probably just stick to what we know.

Biggest takeaway the last few weeks: Feeling sorry for myself does not make me happy.

Kayla xxoo