What makes you happy?

This week’s task, What Makes YOU Happy? ....... What makes me happy??????? What makes me happy???????? Ummmmmmm Well, I really don’t know!!!

Where was I to begin? I read through Deb’s challenge post and couldn’t even think about everyday things that made me happy. Now I am not depressed but perhaps I am not as happy as I should be or WANT to be!!!

I began to write a list (in no order at all), but they were all ‘bigger’ things or things that didn’t happen very often, it seemed that not much on an everyday level made me happy.

·        A tidy, orderly home

·        Family relaxation time, such as holidays

·        Seeing extended family

·        School Holidays – no routine

·        Living in our quiet town

·        Seeing two blue lines on a pregnancy test

·        An empty ironing basket

·        Watching movies

·        Reading

·        Cooking

·        Actually finishing one of my many projects

·        Getting random letters, emails, sms from friends or family just saying hi, or I love you!

·        Going to markets

Why couldn’t I connect enough to see everyday moments? This task was supposed to help me identify my happiness....... I continued all week to think and notice smaller things; again this list is no order

·        Being a stay at home mum

·        Having dinner every night with my family at the dining table

·        Seeing my friends

·        Watching my children play sport

·        Taking photos

I was really getting down at my lack of connection. And I know that if anyone is actually reading this list – haha – then you are probably thinking that this list is pretty good, put I just feel as though I am missing the whole point of the task, considering the second part of the challenge was to try incorporate at least one happiness point into our everyday lives – haha pretty difficult to incorporate having an empty ironing basket everyday when I hate ironing!!!! Is this all my life is????

Surely, there’s more to me?? Ok maybe if I tried harder,

·        Seeing my children first thing in the morning all sleepy and smiling

·        Picking my children up from school and seeing the smiling faces and they run up to me and hug me with a big Hi Mum!!

·        The sun shining

·        Washing hanging on the line, swaying in the wind

·        Curled up next to my husband at night

·        Watching my baby girl discover the world

·        Laying in bed on a day when we don’t have to be anywhere

·        Walks at night with my husband

·        Watching my older children play/laugh/talk together, especially at night when they whisper from their beds (from their own rooms) all about their day

·        Laying on the couch, doing not much at all after a looooong night with a sick baby

·        Looking at photos

·        Watching the sun shine through my bedroom windows

·        Eating dinner that has been cooked by my husband

·        Having quiet one on one time with my husband

·        Breastfeeding

·        Hugging all of my babies – big and small!!!

·        Having quiet dark snuggles with my little baby in the middle of the night

·        Eating pancakes.

So, I at least compiled some kind of happiness list, still feeling disconnected and unable to incorporate things into my day to day life to increase my happiness levels. But maybe I am missing the point of the challenge........

Create a Vision Board.....

Every week I look forward to reading what Deb at SYL has in store for us as we muddle our way through the 52 week challenge. So far I have been challenged, but have also really loved the changes in me brought about pushing myself to complete the challenges.

It has been difficult keeping on top of the challenges the last few weeks, as we returned to our crazy lives with the return of school and after school activities and I have had a tired and unwell little baby. I may not get the post written on time, but the challenges are always at the forefront of my mind and I let the weeks questions and thoughts swirl around and hope that when I actually get a minute to write, it will just flow.......

The challenge of creating a vision board was daunting to me as I am not creative and I was stuck on how I would portray my goals or feelings for 2012 into pictures...... I was lucky that I had stumbled across Pinterest earlier this year, so this made my task a little easier!!! So, here it is:

It is full of dreaming, hope, calm, family and hopefully letting go of fear – oh and also getting the laundry done, and keeping up with it – hahahaha!!!

I am going to get it printed and framed, and then hopefully find a nice space in my bedroom so I can admire it everyday. Thanks again Deb for challenging me and inspiring me to be the better me that I know is in there somewhere!!!   J



Set Goals and Priorities......

This area is so big and so overwhelming that I haven’t been able to tackle it (it’s taken nearly two weeks!!!) But with Deb from SYL Challenge’s guidance on goal setting, I hope that my goals are both attainable and covers enough areas so that by the end of 2012, my Wheel of Life looks a bit healthier!!!!

First of all, an important goal (or the most time important) is my goal to lose 10kg by the end of April 2012. I am not overly overweight, but I do need to lose (I feel) around 10kg, so that when my husband and I try to for another baby (which is coming around quite soon!!!) that I am a bit healthier and fitter to go through another pregnancy.

The second most important goal for me right now, is to spend one on one time with each family member so that we all know that we are important and loved. This also includes nurturing the relationship with my husband! This could be small things like a walk every night, or a movie date with only one child at a time. I don’t want this to be a big deal, but more small and inexpensive things to do together. I would hope to aim for at least a one on one outing once a fortnight.

Thirdly, to maintain a clean and tidy home, as I know I am a calmer and happier person and I feel that everything is under control when the house is clean. This also includes keeping up with the ironing (the number one job that I hate!!!!!)

My fourth goal is perhaps a funny goal to have (especially at number 4), is to stop writing TO DO LISTS and actually DO THE THINGS ON THE LIST!!!!!!!!! I am going to try and write one list a month and do everything on it. The list I will make will be attainable and I will strive very hard to complete the list every month!!!!

Number five on my goals and priority list, would be to slow down. My life feels like it is running at 100 miles an hour and I really want and need it to slow down. I want to increase my time spent outside, by walking or gardening and I want to start a compost bin and to spend time in my husband’s vegetable garden. I hope to have begun a compost bin and a small garden by the end of March 2012.

Six.... phew the list is getting longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would like to start having extended family ‘catch up’ days at least once every two months. I feel very disconnected from my brothers and sisters lately as we all have very busy lives, but family is a number one priority and importance to me, so I want to try and repair these relationships. I hope that a regular catch up with everyone would be a small step in the right direction!!! I aim to have had the first ‘catch up’ by the end of March 2012.

NUMBER SEVEN!!!! To make new friendships and reconnect with the old. It’s hard when you have a new baby, you think you have heaps of time, when in reality you have NONE!!!! My baby girl is about to turn one in March and I feel very isolated (and have down for a few months now) and I really want this feeling to GO AWAY!!!! I hope that this year I meet some new people, with little ones, and I am going to try achieve this by stepping out of my comfort zone and GO TO PLAYGROUPS!!!!! Ohhhhhh scary scary thought but I will go and I will try!!!!!! I also want to reconnect with my old friends, they are important to me and they are obviously in my life for a reason, and I think they need some nurturing to get back the closeness once shared!! I aim to at least meet face to face once a month with an old friend!!!

Goal number eight is a personal goal, for both career and personal growth. I started a photography course at the end of 2011, but as usual life got in the way and the study took a back seat. I am setting myself the goal of completing this course by the end of 2012!!!! This will enable me to get more out of my love of photography and maybe add a source of income if I choose to take my photography to the next level.

Goal nine is to read at least one book and watch a movie a month!!! I love reading and have books everywhere and lists of books I want to read or movies to see, but I never seem to have time!! I want to MAKE time to read and watch movies!!!!

Goal number ten perhaps should be way up the top at number one or two, but it’s here and I hope that by progressing and working on all my other goals, Number Ten may just fall into place!! I would like to have a happier and healthier family by the end of 2012!!!! Not going to specify anything here, just hope to see some changes J

 
So these goals are actually quite daunting now that I have written them in a list form (which I actually said I WOULD NOT DO!!!!). But I will not be deterred. I am going to try and I will commit some time and patience into achieving them.

Probably the first and best place to start would be to draw up a time chart or timetable of sorts, so I am able to see WHERE I spend my time and WHERE I could fit in these new great ideas and hopes into my life.......    HERE I GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just breathing.......

Ahhhhhhh, a week to just breathe!!! Thanks deb for the week to just take it all in and take stock of what we have done in the last few weeks.

This week’s break came at a perfect time for my family. It was the last week of Victorian school holidays and so as we count down to school starting on Monday I really needed to get ready!! We decluttered all of the kids clothes and went shopping for everything they needed (and in some cases for stuff they didn’t need)!!

We played board games (as there is not much time in the school term), we walked and talked, and I got the house kind of under control..... although I am looking forward to next week when I can actually get ON TOP of everything and get my house back into a routine and order so we can all function through what is a called the school term (or chaos!!!!)

I have loved these school holidays, I have been able to spend time with my all of my kids without working or rushing around. I have been able to sit back and enjoy their company and be quite amazed and proud, especially of my son who turned 11 over the holidays. He has grown into a gorgeous young boy and is so smart and clever and beautiful and caring and...... I could really go on!!! My love for him has really blossomed and I am so proud. I am also sad, he has grown so tall and quite often sits around the house in just his footy shorts – ahhhh it scares me to think that he will soon be a teenager and a young man - ?????!!!?????!!!?????!!!!??????? so for now I will have to steal big hugs while he will give them to me!!!!!

It also gave me a chance to sit back and have a read through some other great challenge posts.... I am soo grateful to have joined this challenge, it has allowed my thoughts to get into some kind of order and get out of my head, and it’s also opened up my life to other great women who are all on similar wavelengths to me....... I am loving making connections with others!!!

 Ahhhhhh so as I think about returning to normality on Monday, I am quite calm and excited to think about what the 2012 school year is going to hold. My oldest is starting Grade 5 and my second, Grade 4, so we are accustomed to the school term routine, but it’s still quite emotional for me on the first day when I drop them at school and they walk (run) away from me towards their friends and new experiences...... I will probably still shed a small tear – I can’t help it!!!!