6 Weeks of Wellbeing Project Recap

I did not expect this project to be hard. I honestly thought it'd be about spending more me time. More time blogging, resting, reading, with the boyfriend. And I did just about all of those things. But I found out most of all that cultivating a lifestyle of wellbeing is more than just doing things to make you feel good. It's more than that. 

I don't pretend to know all about how to love a happy-healthy life, but I'd like to think that I'm learning. And the hardest things I've learned is that the things that really make me feel good don't make me feel good. By that, I mean that the most fulfilling, worthwhile things that I can do with my time bring happiness over time or at a later date. 

Let's take volunteering for example. I'll be brutally honest and say that I don't actually enjoy volunteering a lot of the time. I work with snotty kids and change a lot of diapers (okay, I love them, but you know I'm right). But when I focus on the value in what I'm doing, it brings me happiness in the long haul and confidence in myself as a person. 

The second thing I learned I sort of already knew. Taking time for wellbeing doesn't have to take long. I know you know this but let me just park on this for a sec and give you some ideas for upping your wellbeing. 

Do good to you. 

: eat clean, drink water, exercise. 

: go to sleep earlier, get up earlier. 

: spend time outside

: take time off of technology, even if it's turning your phone off while you sleep or for an hour. 

: forgive yourself. For whatever you need to. 

: stretch or meditate

: clean up that area where you always put stuff when you don't want to actually put it away. 

Do good to others. 

: find a place to volunteer. Commit yourself to volunteering at least once every month. Choose an organization that you can build a relationship with and support over time. 

: say thank you. To your mailman, the lady who served your lunch, your children, anyone that you usually forget. 

: give a random compliment. 

: call your grandparents. 

: write a far-away-friend a letter

I'm sure you can come up with lots more because you're certainly an intelligent human being. So as I end my official project on wellbeing, I'm going to do my best to make sure I don't forget my well being. And I challenge you to do the same by valuing your relationships with others and yourself. 

Six Weeks of Wellbeing: Weeks 4 and 5 Recap

First off, the obligatory happy New Year! I hope your 2014 will be lovely + bright. Don't worry though, I love New Year's Day and will be celebrating it for weeks on the blog. I'll be sharing some of my goals + plans for the year in the coming weeks! 

Today I'm recapping the last two weeks of the Six Weeks of Wellbeing project because last week was Christmas + I was too busy stuffing my face with pfeffernusse (a family fave) to write out this post. #sorrynotsorry.

My sort of game plan last time I checked in with y'all was to do good things that are hard. Meaning those things that aren't fun to do, but are good for you or pay off later. I practiced doing things right away--laundry, thank you notes, even replying to texts. I practiced making time for things I need to do but don't enjoy, like cleaning out my desk + room. I found that oftentimes the dread of doing something unpleasant is often a lot worse than the actual activity. I realized that I usually put off doing laundry for days, when I could just get it over with in a few hours. As a smallish goal for 2014, I want to focus on not putting off unpleasant chores or activities.

This coming week, the very last week of the project, I want to focus on learning way to make wellbeing a sustainable lifestyle. I'll be using a lot of the actions I shared in a previous post (Get Happy in 10 Minutes or Less) like writing random thank you cards, going outside, and stretching. Leave me a comment with suggestions on how you take time to do good for yourself!