How to Enjoy Life When Some Days Stink – Learning to love the life you’ve been given even when some days make you want to cover up and stay away.
Enjoying everyday life seems easy for some people, right? I mean they have it all together. A good marriage, healthy vibrant kids, a nice house with cars in the driveway. They go get their favorite cup at Starbucks every day. The home perfected with HomeGoods decor. Weekends involve food and fun and often an amazing new adventure.
Sounds like a great life. Too bad it’s not mine!
You see. I do have a great life. It’s full of my favorite people and things but it’s not what it always seems. Under the surface, I can be very discontent some days. Lacking joy when I’m not going somewhere exciting or buying something else.
I fight discontentment every day, just like some people fight alcohol or pornography. It’s a real thing, people. It’s something I’ve struggled with for years.
This summer I began reading the Happiness Dare. Happiness in summer comes pretty naturally for me. It’s my favorite season full of tea sipping, sunset gazing and trips to the park. So I thought reading this book and taking on this dare would be a breeze.
Jennifer Dukes Lee challenges us with these words:
Road Map to Happiness “There are treasures for you in this book, oh, lion rider. I invite you to ride a glorious path strewn with gladness and delight.” Sounds great to me!
After taking the What’s Your Happiness Style Assessment,( you can go take it online HERE) in the book I found out that I am an Experiencer. You may be The Doer, The Relater, The Giver or the Thinker.
“As an Experiencer, you are a beauty seeker, adventurer, and pay-attentioner. People say you are mindful and fun loving.”
Your motto in life is this: “I don’t look for happiness in a store; I look for it in moments.”
Practical ways that I keep a level mind and fight off the unhappiness
- Abandon the pity party– Sometimes I ride this train way longer than I should. Feeling sorry for myself when my husband is working on Friday night and I’m alone with the kids. Or being down in the dumps over missing a fun opportunity because it costs too much or we had other plans. There’s no safety in staying here. I need to get outside and get some fresh air, read a chapter of a book, play with the silly filters on SnapChat with the kids. Something to get my mind back on the road to recovery.
- Reflect on all the good – I write in my THANKFULNESS JOURNAL often. My rule for myself in jotting things down is that it has to be people, experiences or natural things of this life. I enjoy things like a brand new pair of jeans and my Kitchen Aid mixer. But things can’t give me joy. God does and he reflects that in the people and beauty of this world.
- Relive the fun experiences – I am definitely a HAPPINESS EXPERIENCER, as the book talks about. I enjoy life most when I’m experiencing new places, new foods new things. I think this is why I find myself discontent. Every day can’t be a brand new adventure. Some days I just relive my most fun experiences with photos. I take a lot of pictures to highlight all the good things in my life. It’s fun to sit in bed at night and scroll through thousands of pictures of memories. It makes my heart glad.
- Set my gaze on what’s ahead – Another way to fight off the doldrums is to focus on what’s next. Do I have a fun neighborhood girls night planned? Am I looking forward to bible study next week? The husband has a day off next month and we’re planning on spending the day together. What do you have planned in the next few weeks that you’re excited about?
How to Enjoy Life When Some Days Stink
I can’t recommend Happiness Dare enough. It was an engaging read and I found it very helpful to know what things in life bring me happiness most. I want you to do the same. I’m giving away one copy of this book and a few other goodies. Head over to Instagram to enter to win!
Til we meet and eat again,
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