My Happiness Project – Week 1 – This better be a good idea

Something very strange has been happening within me the last few weeks now for sure, and I kinda think I like it.

Not only am I still deep into my maternity leave with my baby boy, but it has felt like time away from the busy distractions of work has led me to contemplate life in general.  This might be dangerous as someone who struggles with boredom and “not knowing what to do with myself” a baby puts me right out my comfort zone again.

December is usually a month of much excitement, anticipation and preparation in looking forward to one specific day – but can also be expensive and exhausting if you let it become more than what it actually is.  This year I have read a number of great books all in the area of self-development in a way (4-hour work week, Zero Waste Life to name a few), and I have recently come around one that seems to summarise everything I am really looking for right now – The Happiness Project.

You see in the book a normal everyday mother decides that although she doesn’t drastically need to change her life – what if she tried to make it as happy as she could by trying new things and ways to be happier.  Ultimately there is of course a few key areas she found, such as Health/Exercise, Love, Productivity etc and areas that I too am excited to see if I can improve.

So Month 1 I will be blogging and writing about my experiences to improve my happiness first of all in the area of Self-Improvement & Energy.  This means looking at the below areas in particular:

December Goals:

1. Eating better – I cook a lot of our meals straight from scratch, use a slow cooker, meal prep etc but feel our meals can sometimes be hit or miss on whether they are good or not.  I want to learn how to make more meals that are a treat for us.  Our family consists of one 3 yr old toddler and a baby who will be weaning soon, plus two adults working different shifts, so this will be the area of toughest challenge to improve but am sure I can.
2. Exercising better and more consistently – Due to pregnancy and lack of energy with a new-born, I have found exercise has been extremely limited and my body isn’t the way I want it to be.  This pregnancy I’ve put on maybe half a stone overall, which isn’t a lot but I want to get back to the same levels of exercise and fitness as I was at before having my newborn.  This will be simple but perhaps require the most motivation.
3. Sleep better – tough to guarantee a good night’s sleep with a 4 month old, but going to bed earlier taking the risk out of a “early start” will help.  This will require some pattern changing too.
4. Stress less – my biggest weakness.  I stress about everything and it affects my emotions and moods affecting the household.  Time to master my emotions.

These goals seem relatively simple but each day I plan to work towards them in some way and share them online.  This could be the start of something awesome to look back on in a year’s time for sure!

Be sure to join me on Instagram each day for updates @mamafurfur and online here at my blog!