The Happiness Project

[fabrisse]

One of my pre-New Year's purchases was the Kindle Edition of The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Her reason for undertaking it was that she had a good life, but felt she wasn't appreciating it enough. She quite frankly says that she was afraid she'd get to be old, look back at this time in her life, and wonder why she didn't recognize the happiness she had.

I like that she's very clear about depression and unhappiness being separate things. One of the greatest pieces of information that ever came to me from my singing teacher was that feeling sad didn't mean I was depressed. Learning to tell things apart is huge.

Since tomorrow's a new month, I'm starting my own little happiness project without having finished the book. I know the aims for any given month need to be measurable. Like Ms Rubin, my first month is dedicated to feeling more energetic. My four goals for this month are:

Go to bed by 11:00 p.m. Sunday-Thursday nights.

Swim (at least) one evening a week. There's a pool that's free to DC residents and doesn't take me out of my way on my daily walk. I love to swim, so why aren't I? If after this month, I find I'm not enjoying it, fine.

Write my three things that made me happy journal again. I enjoyed it while I was doing it, and then I just faded away from it.

Do one frivolous thing a week. I haven't been to a museum in over a month. Meeting contradictacat at one doesn't count. I love doing it, but I'm not. If I get in the habit again, I'll bet when the summer concerts come, I'll go to some.

Comments

[rhiannonhero.livejournal.com]

am on mobile. forgive lwrcase and shorthand. and typos. about depression not being the same as happiness, I think that goes both ways. not only does feeling unhappy not equal depression, but being depressed does not, ime, equal unhappiness. for example, when I was depressed, there were times when I was a happy person but still suffering from depression. like I still understood myself as happy, but the depression was still in charge. I hope i'm making sense. it is a subtle but important difference, imo. I remember being really pissed off when someone mistook my depression for unhappiness. they said something like, "you are a very unhappy person," and I was madbecause I wasn't unhappy, which was somehow worseb in my mind, but being run by the illness if depression. make any sense?

also, yay for this project!

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Other than the typos, it makes perfect sense. ;-)

I had moments of giddiness, delight, and joy while I was on anti-depressants and depressed (not always overlapping sets), it didn't change the fundamentals of my brain chemistry.