This year I deccided it was time to get serious about making room for happiness. Six months ago I wrote about The Pursuit of Happiness, I had high hopes, but I did not make a way to track it. Tracking it, makes it real and concrete, which also makes it happen (per The Happiness Project).

My plan was to pin point things that make me happy, and make more room for them, you can read about my plan here.

January –

My goals were to get plenty of sleepy and work out four times a week. I did bootcamp three days a week, and did pretty good at getting the fourth work out in. I did not succeed at getting enough sleep.

February –

I planned on continuing to work out a lot, and get my finances in order. I was very unsuccessful. My life kind of got away from me in February, I struggled to catch up with it.

March –

My primary goal was to spend time with people I love and care about. The good people in my life are key contributors to my happiness, so I tracked the time I spent with them. It was definitely a fun goal.

April

I attempted to stay away from Diet Cokes, and sweets and kept a food journal. I had a soda 3 times during the month. Twice, I just forgot and drank one. One time, I just really needed a jolt in a school day, so I went for the caffeine.  My food journal proved to be pretty interesting, I learned a lot about my eating habits, some good and some bad! (no posting, I kept a journal)

May

In May, I wrote down something positive that happened everyday. May was a tough month, my students were unruly, I was impatient and exhausted. Writing a positive thing from each day was a great way for me to reflect on my day, and think of something that went well.

June

This month I went back to the physical fitness. It was a crazy year, and even though I worked out here and there, I still wasn’t in the shape I wanted to be in. So, for the first month of summer, I wrote down my weight and my work outs. I will not be scanning it in, because frankly I’m embarrassed of the numbers on the calendar. The number did increase, I met my 4x a week work out goal, but it is still not to my liking. I felt good and empowered from my work outs, so I feel that even though I didn’t achieve the number on the scale I had hoped for, I did achieve my goal.

July

Halfway there! This month I focused on growing spiritually. I strengthened my relationship with God by being thankful for my life, appreciating what I have, and giving up my anxieties to him. I also completed something on my life list, go on a mission trip. Halfway through this project, I am a very happy girl. I reflected a lot on what a trip like this can make you feel, The Cow Gift and The Walk to Nicaragua are two posts where I talked a lot about the emotions I experienced post mission trip.

August

This month I worked on being frugal. It is a true struggle for me to do this. I like to spend money, and I’m terrible at making budgets and sticking to them.

Success? Well… I didn’t overspend. I planned menus and mostly stuck to it. I made a vow to only buy Starbucks if I have a giftcard (I spent  A LOT of money there last year). I’m getting books more frequently at the library before I buy them. I am attempting to be conscious about my spending.

September

GOAL: to make someone else smile everyday. Difficult to measure, but I attempted to remind myself daily of this goal. Smiling is good for the soul.

October

Journal daily and reflect upon the person I am. I wanted to use these reflections to help me in my quest to become my best self. It is a lifelong process, but I learned a lot from this exerciese.

November

Make time for me and do not let my job rule my life. Teaching is an amazing job, but it can suck all the life out of you. I need to create separation in my life, teaching is a big part of my life, but it is not the entirety of who I am.