You are what you do. Do you believe that? I do. What is your vision of the future? Where are you hoping to be? Who are you hoping to be? Does how you spend your time line up with that?
One of the first realizations I made after I decided I wanted to be happy, that I wanted it more than anything else, was that my actions did not line up with my goals. I had to be brutally honest with myself about how I spent my time. What was I really working on? I wrote it all down and didn’t like what I saw.
As a mom, a lot of my time felt like it wasn’t my own. Kids constantly drag me in all directions and it seems like I can’t sit down for more than a few minutes without an interruption. It’s hard. I know. But I’ve made some significant changes to our daily schedule and implemented some if/then rules with our kids (IF you interrupt me when I am talking to a grown up THEN the answer to what you want will always be no). Being firm but kind has helped my relationship with my kids & helped me take back a bit of control of my own life.
After taking a course over at calm clinic, I realized there are four types of actions. They are easiest understood as a grid.
To really pursue your own happiness, you’ll need to live in the realm of things that are good for you. I realized that I was spending an enormous amount of time doing things that weren’t good for me. Many of the things didn’t even feel good, but I was still doing them. It was insane! For full transparency, I am sharing my list. (No judging, right?)
Day 10 of #31daystohappy
Today’s prompt is to make your own grid and if you feel it necessary cut out your class 2 and 4 activities. Live your life in boxes 1 & 3 (whatever your boxes 1 and 3 look like – don’t take mine with anything more than a grain of salt)
If you’d like to download the grid and just print it out, I have created a free printable here.
Click Here to Download Free Printable
I’d love to have you share you doing something from your box 1 space! Let’s have a little fun! Please use the tag #31daystohappy so I can find it and we can support each other in a positive way!
In other news, if you are interested in learning to sew a double drunkard’s path block with no pins, pop over to our Youtube channel!
Thanks for the information-the tools-the great sewing tutorials!
Wow Amanda thank you for being so honest. I am the worst symptom googler. It is so self destructive and makes my anxiety so much worse. But then sometimes it makes me feel better but only for the briefest most short lived moment. I want to get out of this vicious cycle but it’s like I don’t even know what to do instead. What to replace that urge with. Like when one of my children comes to me with a health concern (like my leg hurts every morning when I wake up) and I feel the anxiety and my blood pressure rising- it’s all I can think to do. I want to know what you do in those panic moments. So far incorporating all of this 31 days into my life has been life changing and I am more hopeful than ever before but when those panic moments happen I fall into my old self. I’m trying to use my mantra but my dependency on my habit is deep! Thank you so much for this project. You are changing lives my friend.
Thank you for sharing your grid. It gives me a better handle on what you’re talking about. I think I can do this now.