Happiness Challenge #1 - Live Longer

In my quest for joy, I have found many new bits of inspiration. One that I love the most is Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project. You must, must MUST visit Gretchen Rubin's blog at http://www.happiness-project.com/. I even recommend that you read the book, which is a New York Times Bestseller.

Gretchen's memoir about trying to increase the happiness in her everyday life instead of running off to find herself (a la Elizabeth Gilbert in Eat, Pray, Love - whom I also happen to love), has inspired me to create a happiness project of my own. Like Gretchen, I love the idea of creating lists and resolutions and giving myself a gold star for accomplishing them. I also love the idea of focusing on one aspect of my life at at time. Since I tend to get overwhelmed by possibilities, this is a good strategy for me.

I am going to follow Gretchen's example and have a happiness project of my own. Each month I'll focus on a different goal. For June, I decided to start with my health. I have long battled with my weight and have tried every diet there is, but I just can't work with diets or deprivation anymore. I do, however, still need to lose forty pounds in order to be healthier. Carrying around forty extra pounds on my short 5'3" frame just isn't conducive to a long life. Plus, it makes me unhappy - and I'm supposed to be getting rid of all the things that make me unhappy. I'm still fairly young, but I know that this extra weight will take its toll on my body and could lead to many nasty things, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.

Instead of a diet, I am reading The Spark

and I have joined SparkPeople, a lovely place to hang out and get motivated about being healthy. SparkPeople has a calorie tracker, fitness tracker, recipes, exercises, message boards, and teams you can join to motivate you. Best of all, it is FREE!!!

I'm loving SparkPeople and how it is helping me to live a more healthy lifestyle. You should check it out http://www.sparkpeople.com/.

So far, I've managed to keep my resolutions AND keep up with the week one challenges set forth in The Spark. I'm drinking more water and eating less (having to count my calories really opened my eyes to how much I had been eating). The next step I hope to focus on is being more active. I absolutely HATE exercising, but I've found that if I only have to do it for 15 minutes, then it isn't so bad. I'm hoping to find something I love enough to actually WANT to do it, but so far, no luck. Oh well, the month isn't over yet...