I
am currently reading The Happiness
Project by Gretchen Rubin.
This book describes Gretchen’s journey to happiness. She begins by explaining her current
life and how she is not a sad, depressed person; rather, she lives an average
life. Each month she has goals
that she fulfills in order to make her life fuller. So I’ve decided to make my own Happiness Project for this
summer. I hope that it will help
me to improve my attitude and mindset so that I can be a better volunteer and
person.
Live in the now
This past school year, particularly
at the end, I struggled to keep my mindset in the present moment. I constantly found myself daydreaming
about being in Florida for the summer or Washington and Lee University in the
fall. Furthermore, I became unmotivated
in school and athletics. I just
did not care anymore about what was happening in the present because it would
not alter my future. I did not
realize my mindset until after a softball game I told my parents that I was
really disappointed with the season I was having. Their response shocked me. Rather than comforting me and telling me that it was just a
slump, they said the honest truth.
I had not worked hard this year so consequently I should not expect to do
well. They were right, I was not focused
on the now – softball season. If I
would have been in the present, I would have been able to have a much more
fulfilling senior season, rather than ending in disappointment. So for this summer I hope to live in
the now, not the later.
Be Friendlier
I
often struggle with being friendly.
For example, when walking in the hall during high school I would only
say hello as a response to the people that said hello to me first. Looking back, I really regret that I
did not reach out to others by saying a simple, easy greeting. It especially hit me during graduation
when I only knew about half of my class.
Why did I not know more?
The answer was simple, I had not put myself out there to get to know
others. In the future I plan on
making myself initiate conversation with those surrounding me.
Actually Do Yoga
This
winter for about three weeks I did yoga twice a week. It was a great source of exercise and it also relaxed and
stretched my body. Yoga
outfits are really cute, so that was an added bonus! In the future I would like to take up Yoga permanently. Realistically, I know that I won’t do
it everyday, nor will I spend more than an hour on it, but I would like to do
it regularly. In the future, this
would help to reduce my stress while also remaining fit.
Share Love
Certain
people have an aura about them that puts others at ease. When they are around everyone feels
comfortable and confident. For
example, one of my friends has a sister that is quite a bit older than us. I bump into her sparingly, but every
time I see her she is in a good mood as well as everyone she came in contact
with. She genuinely conveys
kindness to all that surround her.
I think that those people have a God given gift, but I would like to try
to be kinder to people I come in contact with. This includes people that I will never see again, like
cashiers at the grocery store, waiters at restaurants or just a stranger I’m
sitting next to on a bus or plane.
In other words, I would like to share love with all those surrounding
me.
Read Devotionals
Last
summer my mom purchased a devotional for me, Voices of the Faithful. Each
day is only a page long and consists of a scripture verse, a lesson written by
a missionary and a prayer. Reading
stories from missionaries in the field has been powerful and shows how God’s
love can reach so many places.
During the last quarter of my senior year I stopped reading it. I got out of the routine and never got
back. At graduation I received two
additional devotions and really like both of them. So I’ve decided that this summer I’m going to read all three
at the same time. Each book has a
page long devotional per day, so every day I only have to read a total of three
pages. By doing this I hope to
strengthen my faith by gaining three different perspectives.
Remind Others That I
Care About Them
Being
away for eight weeks makes staying in contact with family and friends
challenging. I can call, facetime,
skype, facebook or text but not actually seeing or being around people I love
is hard. So this summer I need to
be creative in how I stay in touch with others. Furthermore, I need to remind my family and friends that I
care about them even though I’m not around. I have not come up with any new ideas, but hopefully I will
soon. In the meantime boring means
of communication will just have to do.
