• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Dear Sabrina

  • Family
  • Happiness
  • Life in Sweden
  • Beauty
  • Thinking
  • Miscellany
  • About
    • Now
You are here: Home / Happiness / Happiness Project Redux

Happiness Project Redux

March 23, 2021 By Jodi

In my previous post, I mentioned that I'm endeavoring a Happiness Project again. I've written a lot of background about happiness projects, and why I find the idea meaningful—as opposed to mere frivolity––so I won't go into that again now. This time, though, due to some Black Friday margarita drinking*, I'm actually doing the official course led by Gretchen Rubin.

It's been wonderful—I dare say life-changing—so far.

A nice thing about doing this as a guided course is that there's a guide, of course, and also that she's done some of the heavy lifting (thinking) already. She determined the monthly themes (or focus areas), and my job is to set my own meaningful resolutions within that theme. Gretchen is very clear that there are no one-size-fits-all resolutions, and that what works for one person may be the exact opposite of what works for someone else. She gives general suggestions for what resolutions folks might like, but she certainly doesn't say, for example, that everyone needs to wake up at 6am to fulfill their human potential (any other mothers out there going crazy with all these suggestions that the only way to live a fulfilled life as a parent is to wake up when everyone else is asleep, before the sun rises??! I spent 7+ years not sleeping through the night, and now I'm making up for lost time).

The themes for the year are:

January: Self-knowledge
February: Energy
March: Outer Order
April: Friends
May: Work
June: Play
July: Family
August: Money
September: Love
October: Body
November: Awe
December: Onward

As you can tell, we're already nearly three months into this and I'm only beginning to write about it. I'll share retrospectively how it's gone thus far, and I'll share how it continues to go.

Let me be very clear about something: I don't actually think that you, dear reader, care all that much about my happiness project, or all of the details I will commence to share with you the next time I am drinking margaritas at night by myself while reminiscing on my happiness project. However, I found it incredibly engaging and instructive when Gretchen Rubin wrote her two books about this stuff, and though I am a very different person than she is, I took a lot out of those books.

So I do this in case someone else out there might find it engaging or interesting or useful or spark something, however small, in their own life that might make that life just a little bit better. Because being conscious about my own life has only enhanced it, and if I'm lucky, also the lives of those little people I share my days with.

(*Yes, a lot of the stories of my life begin with a couple margaritas).

Photos by Daniel Gonzalez on Unsplash.

Share this:

  • Email
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Related

Filed Under: Happiness, Happiness Project, Thinking Tagged With: gretchen rubin, happiness, happiness project, resolutions

Previous Post: « A Soft Restart
Next Post: Happiness Project: January: Self-knowledge resolutions »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

About Jodi

I just repatriated from Sweden to the US with my British husband and three young kids. I started this site while living in Sweden to build the conversations and community we've had with loved ones around the world, and to create a space to share thoughts about life, beauty, motherhood, and everything else. read more →

Connect & Follow

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Receive the weekly newsletter

* indicates required
/ ( mm / dd )

Recent Posts

Happiness Project: Month 1 Resolutions

September 6, 2016 By Jodi 2 Comments

benjamin-franklin-virtues-temperance

For the first month of my new happiness project, I'm focusing on my general health and wellness. I think it's important to boost this project with an infusion of energy and vitality--something I don't always feel as the mother of two young children with a third on the way. So my resolutions this month will be focused...

Read More

Adding a "Now" Page

December 27, 2016 By Jodi Leave a Comment

Jodi and August on Christmas Eve

This morning I somehow stumbled across the website of Derek Sivers, and was fascinated when I read his "now" page. I liked the idea immediately and decided to add one of my own to Dear Sabrina. 

Happiness Project: January: Self-knowledge resolutions

March 30, 2021 By Jodi Leave a Comment

Solitary cabin in winter, we are all islands

Starting a happiness project is all the easier when someone does the legwork for you. Freed from having to think too much about it, it was easy to get started on January's theme of self-knowledge by picking up a handful of suggestions from Gretchen and throwing in a couple resolutions of my own. The idea...

Read More

Wrapping Up My Happiness Project

February 28, 2017 By Jodi 5 Comments

Happiness Project wrap-up, hot chocolate winter walk

Six months ago I started a small happiness project, and now it's coming to an end. Today I'd like to look back on the project, see where I succeeded and where I didn't, and what lessons I can carry forward.

Categories

  • Beauty
  • Family
  • Happiness
  • Life in Sweden
  • Miscellany
  • Thinking

Follow me on Bloglovin'

Follow

Instagram

Footer

About Dear Sabrina

Welcome! Dear Sabrina is a lifestyle blog for the thinking woman (and man, if men read lifestyle blogs). I hope that visiting this site gives you something to think about, makes you laugh, or shows you something new. If you want to further connect, find me on one of networks below or send an email.
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think. More about me…

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Copyright © 2023 · Jodi Elliott

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.