I am in the middle of reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project and my head is full of about 100 different posts. I’m so inspired by Rubin’s journey that I fear anyone who borrows my copy willl think I’m a huge dork with all my “ME TOO’s” in the margins.
It has been a long time since I’ve been so affected by a book I’ve read. I would guess that last time was Love by Leo Buscaglia in college. It was a phenomenal read, one I kept talking about for months on end.
So it is with THe Happiness Project. I relate to the author on so many levels. I think we all will. I find myself thinking of ways I could be happier. What are the things I could do to enhance my life? Then I get discouraged because life is SO big and I can’t quite find a place to focus. The biggest lesson I’m learning (yes, present tense) is to just BE ERIN! I can’t change who I am at my core. And that’s Rubin’s focus. She takes pieces of her life (one month at a time) and tries to improve upon herself while remaining herself. I can only embrace myself and be ok with the things I am and am not.
I love being with people – friends and family!
I love coffee, wine, tea – but don’t really care for beer all that much.
I hate cleaning and I don’t mind piles.
I love TV and movies.
I love shopping.
I am never going to care about sports no matter how much I want to.
I don’t enjoy crafts. Martha Stewart I will never be.
I wish I took pleasure in the creation of a meal, but I don’t. It’s just a necessity.
And probably my biggest disappointment with myself, as far as interests and activities go, is the fact that I don’t enjoy gardening. MY ENTIRE FAMILY enjoys gardening. It’s a release for my grandmothers, aunts, mother…..I have no idea where that “gene” went in my body but I didn’t get it. And it has bothered me for years.
But I just don’t like it.
Rubin has inspired me to really take a look at these traits/ideals/likes/dislikes and to accept them and move on to the things that I do enjoy – the things I am actually good at and care about.
Not as easy as it sounds – but we’ll get there.
I need to read this book! Wonderful! Thanks!