Spring Resolutions - Looking for the Happy

I’m a little bit behind with my New Year’s Resolution, so as today is the start of spring and the clocks go forward at the weekend, I decided I’d introduce a “Spring Resolution” – better late than, never right? Plus, spring always feels like a chance for a new start anyway.

  At the beginning of the year, I decided that one of the things I would do for myself this year was to allow myself some time to be creative. I’d spend some time on my blog and as last year I started writing a book,  I decided to dedicate a bit of time to that every week too.

  That basically panned out like this...... I wrote a blog on New Year’s Day and about 6 weeks ago, I wrote a chapter of my book. 

 Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have publishers banging my door down for my book and my inbox hasn’t been full of e-mails demanding when it’s making a return, but for me, I knew wasn’t doing something I wanted.

  2017 has so far been a bit peculiar, a whole combination of things has meant that my ass has been well and truly kicked! Rather than letting this year be about creativity and fun, somewhere along the way it became about decorating and furniture building and trying to squeeze 26 hours’ worth of stuff into 24. Then there’s been the thing that I could never have predicted, the thing that came along punched me in the stomach, pulled my hair and placed Lego everywhere I walked.

  Last week, everything really got on top of me and I realized that I’d got to do something…. Anything! So, I decided to “look for the happy”, for the last 5 days, I have tried to focus on just one thing every day that’s made me happy and take its photo.

By doing this, I realized that there was actually way more than one thing every day that put a smile on my face and I could probably have taken hundreds of photos!

These are my 5….

  The first photo is of my dog Mabel, I’ve written about her before, because she is the definition of happy, however rubbish her life might have been in the past, she’s put all that behind her and now she lives for playing fetch, her walks and her cuddles.

  The second photo is of daffodils; these beautiful yellow flowers always make me smile. Firstly, they remind me of my Mum, who ALWAYS bought me and my sister a bunch of the first daffodils she saw in the shops every year. She loved them because they symbolized spring and things coming to life. Secondly yellow is my favourite colour, it’s the colour of sunshine and if happy was a colour it would be yellow!

The third is a caricature that someone drew of me at an event. Me and some colleagues attended a show for work and ended up chatting to an artist at one of the stands, he drew pretty unflattering pictures of us all, but we belly laughed about them  and they are now are proudly on display in the office.

Whilst the box of Capri Sun and 3D glasses might seem random, they signify a really great night out last night. Now I know, not many stories start with “I was drinking Capri Sun, when this fun thing happened” But last night me and some of my favourite people went out for dinner and to see “Beauty and the Beast” and it was just the best night, it was so much fun, we laughed at each other’s stories and the film exceeded every expectation! If you haven’t seen it, go immediately!  My friend Gav rocked up with a carrier bag full of goodies, including a Capri Sun each!

  The final photo is my CD of choice in the car today, on the way to work belted out such classics as “Don’t Stop Believing”, “Making your Mind Up” and was over joyed when my beloved Bros came on.

Although I started off looking for the happy, I think that the happy has started to find me. So why not try it? For the next 5 days, look for one thing that makes you happy!