So there you have it, they are nothing special but these “laws” are something I always\u00a0 come back to when I am having a rough time.\u00a0 Usually, when my happiness tank is running on empty it is because I am not following my laws.\u00a0 I have quite a few more, but these are the main ones.\u00a0 Your laws are going to look different than mine as you have different things that are important to you and that make you happy.\u00a0 But I recommend giving yourself a guideline to keep yourself on track.\u00a0 Maybe it is something simple, like never making plans on a Friday night because you usually are exhausted.\u00a0 Or maybe it is 20 minutes a day of playing on your guitar.\u00a0 Not checking Facebook all day.\u00a0 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!<\/p>\n
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So remember how I told you a couple posts ago that I have my own “Happiness Laws” to live by?\u00a0 Well this is a post where I tell you about them.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But sometimes, life is crazy.\u00a0\u00a0 So what happens when life gets crazy?\u00a0 We start to forget what makes us happy and spend too much energy on just getting through the day by day tasks.\u00a0 Then before you know it, you are exhausted and miserable because your happiness tank is running on empty.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 It is a great light read and I highly recommend it.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 You can name yours whatever you like \ud83d\ude42 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.\u00a0 I have tried to to function on less, but I turn into a rampant 3 year old.\u00a0 With all the races I train for and my busy schedule- my body needs the 8 hours.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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. One date night with Shain a week Yes, Shain and I live together.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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).\u00a0 He travels a lot for work so that makes it tough but our relationship is a priority and needs time to be fostered\u00a0 just like anything else.\u00a0 Sometimes this date is as simple as hanging out at\u00a0 Barnes and Noble and getting some coffee, actually that is pretty much what we always do for our date.\u00a0 Nerds. Staying out late= missing a workout=crabby Jill Pretty self explanatory, I cannot hang with the night owls.\u00a0 Took me a long time to own up to that. Aim to do important tasks before 11am Morning is my time, I love it.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So I am constantly trying to be conscious if I am talking just to talk, or if I am adding value.\u00a0 Words used to gossip about others or judge others are not a good use of words. \u00a0Kindness always wins There are moments when I really want to put somebody in their place, when somebody is being rude, disrespectful etc.\u00a0 I always always try to “kill em with kindness”, even if it means sucking up my pride and eating a big slice of\u00a0 humble pie in order to do so.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Just ask anybody that lived with me during or before college, my room was always a disaster.\u00a0 But after I graduated I decided I was sick of losing things,\u00a0 running late etc.\u00a0 So I plan like crazy.\u00a0 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. So there you have it, they are nothing special but these “laws” are something I always\u00a0 come back to when I am having a rough time.\u00a0 Usually, when my happiness tank is running on empty it is because I am not following my laws.\u00a0 I have quite a few more, but these are the main ones.\u00a0 Your laws are going to look different than mine as you have different things that are important to you and that make you happy.\u00a0 But I recommend giving yourself a guideline to keep yourself on track.\u00a0 Maybe it is something simple, like never making plans on a Friday night because you usually are exhausted.\u00a0 Or maybe it is 20 minutes a day of playing on your guitar.\u00a0 Not checking Facebook all day.\u00a0 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! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t
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