Jill’s Laws of Happiness

So remember how I told you a couple posts ago that I have my own “Happiness Laws” to live by?  Well this is a post where I tell you about them.  I know, what a great intro, I am so creative.

So here is the thing, we all know for the most part what we enjoy doing, what makes us happy, what we hate doing, what puts us beyond our limits, what our obligations are, what we don’t have to do etc.  But sometimes, life is crazy.   So what happens when life gets crazy?  We start to forget what makes us happy and spend too much energy on just getting through the day by day tasks.  Then before you know it, you are exhausted and miserable because your happiness tank is running on empty.  That is no way to live a happy life, it is important to remind ourselves of our boundaries otherwise our quality of life suffers, our work suffers and people around us suffer.  Having your own personal happiness laws is a great way to constantly ensure that your happiness tank is full with things that are important, that are key to YOUR success and what you want for YOUR life.

I got this idea of Happiness Laws a few years back when I read the book, The Happiness Project.  It is a great light read and I highly recommend it.  The author used these to help keep herself in check, she called them something different that I cannot remember but I liked Happiness Laws better.  You can name yours whatever you like 🙂

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Jill’s Happiness Laws

  • 8 hours of Sleep is non- negotiable

Many people can function on little sleep, I am not one of those people.  I have tried to to function on less, but I turn into a rampant 3 year old.  With all the races I train for and my busy schedule- my body needs the 8 hours.  I RARELY get less than 7 hours of sleep a night.

  • No workout=Crabby Jill

Working out makes me happy, it is my release, it is my hobby.  When I don’t do it I am crabby, so even if I am on a recovery day I will do yoga, take my dog rollerblading, something to get me moving.

  • Do not schedule something on consecutive weekend nights

With adding school onto my plate, it is even more important than ever to not book up my weekends.  So if I have plans for a Friday night, I will try my best to not plan anything at all for Saturday so that I have at least one night to decompress or catch up on homework, house chores etc.

  • 30 minutes of journaling/reflection/praying each day

This is key to my mental health.  When I don’t take time to reflect or talk to God, I miss out on some serious feelings or thoughts that are trying to tell me something important.

  • Avoid Sugar

I love sweets, but the problem is that sugar is a total gateway drug for me.  Some people can have one piece of chocolate and kick their sweet craving for the day, if I have one piece of chocolate it turns into 5 pieces and then a trip to the Dairy hut and then maybe some Portillo’s Chocolate Cake…all in one day. The cycle just gets worse.  So I aim to avoid processed sugar at all costs unless it is a cheat day/cheat meal.

  • Clean Eating at least 80% of the time

Eating healthy and clean makes me happy, makes me a better athlete, makes my skin better,my energy levels better, keeps my badonka donk in check, the list goes on.  So even though every one around me might be indulging and giving me the “you can afford to eat this” guilt trip, I know what works for me personally and for my body, so it is important to stick with with it.

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  • One date night with Shain a week

Yes, Shain and I live together.  But it is CRUCIAL for us to have at least one night a week where we are spending quality time together by ourselves doing something outside our house.  Otherwise he is just this random guy I happen to live with who gets my on nerves (naturally I am perfect and never get on his nerves…duh).  He travels a lot for work so that makes it tough but our relationship is a priority and needs time to be fostered  just like anything else.  Sometimes this date is as simple as hanging out at  Barnes and Noble and getting some coffee, actually that is pretty much what we always do for our date.  Nerds.

  • Staying out late= missing a workout=crabby Jill

Pretty self explanatory, I cannot hang with the night owls.  Took me a long time to own up to that.

  • Aim to do important tasks before 11am

Morning is my time, I love it.  I am the most productive and the happiest then, after lunch is when I struggle.

  • One cheat day a week

When I am on a roll of super clean eating, I make sure to have a least one meal a week where I can cheat but no more than that.  Again, I do not do well with a “little cheat” each day, I am an all or nothing kinda gal.

  • Speak only if you will add value

I am a chatty Cathy, but I need to work on reigning that in.  So I am constantly trying to be conscious if I am talking just to talk, or if I am adding value.  Words used to gossip about others or judge others are not a good use of words.

  •  Kindness always wins

There are moments when I really want to put somebody in their place, when somebody is being rude, disrespectful etc.  I always always try to “kill em with kindness”, even if it means sucking up my pride and eating a big slice of  humble pie in order to do so.  I have a side personality that tends to come out in these situations, my friends like to call it “street Jill” but whenever that side of me comes out, I feel awful afterwards. Even if a person deserved it, it is never worth it afterwards.  Respect and kindness always win and in the end that person will appreciate you much more for helping them see a different side in a kind way, not by being rude right back.  Can’t kill disrespect with disrespect.

  • Less is more

I have really learned the hard way that the simple life is the key t0 happiness, still working on this one.

  • Plan Ahead

By nature I am not an organized person.  Just ask anybody that lived with me during or before college, my room was always a disaster.  But after I graduated I decided I was sick of losing things,  running late etc.  So I plan like crazy.  I plan my meals for the week, I plan what I am going to wear, I pack my food the night before and I plan out my tasks.

 

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So there you have it, they are nothing special but these “laws” are something I always  come back to when I am having a rough time.  Usually, when my happiness tank is running on empty it is because I am not following my laws.  I have quite a few more, but these are the main ones.  Your laws are going to look different than mine as you have different things that are important to you and that make you happy.  But I recommend giving yourself a guideline to keep yourself on track.  Maybe it is something simple, like never making plans on a Friday night because you usually are exhausted.  Or maybe it is 20 minutes a day of playing on your guitar.  Not checking Facebook all day.  They can be whatever you want, look at what you are spending your time on and figure out a way to put some more things YOU want in there and fill that happiness tank back up!

 

 

 

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