c'mon get happy...

So, here's the deal.  I'm 37 years old.  I have wonderful husband, beautiful twin girls, and a nice (if not somewhat chaotic) home.  I have a large family that loves and supports me and I have a relatively large circle of friends.  I work full-time at what I would consider to be my dream job.  I volunteer in my community and am active in my church.  And, you know what?  I spend a large portion of my life feeling unhappy...downright crabby.  When I stand back and look at my life from an outsider's point of view, I wonder what on God's green earth I have to be so unhappy about.

That's why I'm here.

The light bulb went off for me as I was wrapping up Christmas (no pun intended).  I was working hard at my job, getting ready to take time off.  I was working hard at home, trying to get everything in order and staying up until all hours of the night hand-making the perfect gifts for my four-year-old daughters.  I was stressed, I was tired, and (let's face it) I was downright snippy.  Once Christmas was over and the pressure was off and I had time to think, I came to the realization that I wasn't as happy as I could be or as I should be.  I made a resolution to make a change.  My goal?  To find some balance, to find some zen, and (most importantly) to find some joy.

Shortly after the New Year, Entertainment Weekly featured a page full of books about people who had done something for a year and written about it...like the woman who followed every piece of advice given by Oprah or the man who lived by the rules of the Bible.  That was the first place I saw Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. The short synopsis said something along the lines of, "Woman learns to lighten up and enjoy life."  I read the snippet to my husband and laughed as I said that this was definitely the next book I should read.  Two days later, there she was on The Today Show, telling her story.  Her epiphany came when she realized that her lack of joy was keeping her from being the kind of mother she really wanted to be.  It made me cry.  I bought the book that afternoon.

So, almost a month later, I think I am making the time to begin the journey.  The unhappiness stops now.  Or, more realistically, my hope is that by this time next year I've found just a little more joy and learned a little bit about how to simply "lighten up and enjoy life."