Run Your Day, Or Your Day Will Run You

This weekend I went to a positivity workshop that was put on by HappiHaven. We discussed happiness, positivity, creativity, journaling and hand-lettering. How fun! It was a great group of women discussing the power of happiness and how sometimes, it's not always super easy to be happy or to just be in the moment. Check out HappiHaven's facebook page here. This workshop inspired me to write today's blog post.

Last week my husband and I were running around ALL week. Between us and our house-hunt and having showings at our townhome as well, we were gone every night. It was a crazy busy week and I guess my body had had enough of that nonsense. I've had a cold for 5 days now. Yesterday was the worst day and I actually had to stay home from work. I laid on the couch all day, thinking I would just catch up on some Netflix shows. But then I fell asleep for a few hours. I guess my body needed the extra rest. I haven't had a cold in 2-3 years, so this hit me hard. While I laid there on the couch, my mind kept trying to think of things I could be doing. Laundry, dishes, vacuum, write a new blog post! Make some new Etsy designs! Then I realized I was too tired to do any of that. Oh yeah, I'm sick. I have to just lay here if I want to get better.

Even though I'm finally feeling a bit better, I still woke up this morning feeling cranky. What kind of crap is that? To wake up and immediately feel crabby, tired and not ready or motivated to start the day. I really don't want this to be another motivational, "You can make today GREAT!" posts, because honestly, some days it's really, really hard to make the day great. But I DO want to talk about how you can at least TRY to start your day out right. 

Some days just plain suck, some are mediocre and some are seriously awesome. Sometimes you just wake up feeling great and don't even have to try. Those are the best days, aren't they? But when you wake up and don't feel super awesome, what do you do?

Often our minds wander into this dark place where everything is crap. We look out the window and it's gloomy. What's the point in being cheery if it's not going to even be sunny outside? Ugh, today is going to stink. I don't want to go to work. My hair looks like crap, this bun is not working! I just want to stay home all day and watch Netflix.

When I woke up this morning though, I realized I had a choice. I could stay in this awful mood and let it take over my day and possibly the rest of my week, OR I could just try really hard to make it a good day. I've been reading a lot about positive self talk and it's amazing how what we tell ourselves can make or break our day, week, month and life. So when I was in the shower this morning I said to myself, "Let's make today a good day. I'm sick of being sick. I want to be fun Meghan today. I'm feeling a little better, so let's kick off this Wednesday with a positive mood to carry through into the weekend. I'm going to have some half-caff coffee to give myself a little boost. Then I'm going to go to work and kick some ass. Get some shit done. It's going to be awesome! Here we go."

And even though I woke up feeling crappy, this self talk really worked. I motivated myself enough to just TRY to be positive. Being happy isn't always easy. It doesn't always come naturally and sometimes, it can be really hard. The more I've grown up, the more I have experienced this new relationship with happiness. The stresses of life and adulting can weigh us down and take over our thoughts. We have to make time to be positive and motivate ourselves. If we don't, responsibilities and stressful situations can weigh us down and make us forget our happiness.

We get so caught up in comparing our happiness to the happiness of others, mainly through social media. We see other people going on vacation, getting married, having babies, buying houses, getting puppies, buying new cars, having a blast with their awesome families at their awesome cabins. We think, Wow, that person has it all. They must be so happy. I want to be like them. But keep in mind that most people are only posting the happy parts of their lives. Not many people take to social media that they had the crappiest day ever... their dog died, their pants split down the middle because they've gained ten pounds since their significant other dumped them and then they spilled ketchup from their burger down the front of their new, white t-shirt. Next time you see someone post something awesome about themselves on social media, remember that they could have farted in front of all of their co-workers in a quiet conference room today. They just didn't tell you because they didn't want you to know that their life sucks just as much as yours.

Being happy takes work. Just because someone makes being happy appear easy and effortless does not mean that they woke up that way. It may have taken that person a long time to be able to feel that way, so let's all remember that our own individual happiness is up to us and no one else. Even though I woke up in a bad mood today, I knew that I had the power to try to change that. And through positive self talk and a changed mindset, my day wasn't so bad after all. It was actually pretty darn good.

Your friend,

Meg