Once upon a time, in my sophomore year of college, I was lamenting my sad life to a friend who suggested I do one thing to make me happy every day for a week. In the beginning of May, I mentioned that week to my roommates and we decided to make our own version of it, but together, and for the entire month of May. We each came up with ten things we wanted to do and we planned our month accordingly. Even though we didn't quite accomplish every day's task, we had a lot of fun and we encountered happiness. Too bad I left it in Provo shortly thereafter.
Here is a rundown of each day's task. Feel free to skip this part if you do not care at all, or study it carefully if you need ideas on how to find happiness. Pictures included.
May 4: pick a flower [success]
May 5: meet someone new [success]
May 6: reference as many song lyrics as possible in conversation [failure for me]
May 7: cartwheel in public [success]
May 8: paint our nails the same color [failure]
May 9: prank someone [mostly a failure, though we made a valiant effort to thicken Mark's drink]
May 10: wear something gold [success]
May 11: sort people into Harry Potter houses [success for my roommates, failure for me]
May 12: watch the sunset [success]
May 13: wear seven pieces of jewelry [success!]
May 14: eat a kid's meal at the Creamery [success]
May 15: eat only fruits and veggies [failure—we went to Sonic Happy Hour instead, haha]
May 16: roommate dinner with my favorite food [success]
May 17: sleepover in the living room [success, plus Jessie and Walter joined us]
May 18: go dancing [semi-success—we danced to at least one song each]
May 19: tandem biking [success! one of the best days]
May 20: Temple Square [failure—we sat outside the Provo temple and watched missionaries instead]
May 21: play tennis [success]
May 22: doorbell ditch [success]
May 23: roommate dinner with Katie's favorite food [semi-success—Cambrie didn't eat with us]
May 24: bodyrock to "Call Your Girlfriend" [failure]
May 25: buy matching clothes [failure—we looked but didn't find anything we all agreed on]
May 26: go rollerblading [semi-success—we all went Classic Skating instead]
May 27: wear matching outfit to church [success!]
May 28: music video to "Call Me Maybe" [success]
May 29: jump into a swimming pool with all our clothes on [success]
May 30: roommate dinner with Cambrie's favorite food [failure]
May 31: shaved ice [success]
Looking back, we failed at more tasks than I thought. But the important thing is that we got to spend time together and we got to have a lot of experiences that we would not have had otherwise. And we found happiness. Look at those smiles.
I am probably going to start another [lifelong] one pretty soon, so feel free to leave a comment with suggestions for daily tasks. Parameters: can be done alone, can involve the beach.
Stay tuned!
Here is a rundown of each day's task. Feel free to skip this part if you do not care at all, or study it carefully if you need ideas on how to find happiness. Pictures included.
May 4: pick a flower [success]
May 5: meet someone new [success]
May 6: reference as many song lyrics as possible in conversation [failure for me]
May 7: cartwheel in public [success]
May 8: paint our nails the same color [failure]
May 9: prank someone [mostly a failure, though we made a valiant effort to thicken Mark's drink]
May 10: wear something gold [success]
May 11: sort people into Harry Potter houses [success for my roommates, failure for me]
May 12: watch the sunset [success]
May 13: wear seven pieces of jewelry [success!]
May 14: eat a kid's meal at the Creamery [success]
May 15: eat only fruits and veggies [failure—we went to Sonic Happy Hour instead, haha]
May 16: roommate dinner with my favorite food [success]
May 17: sleepover in the living room [success, plus Jessie and Walter joined us]
May 18: go dancing [semi-success—we danced to at least one song each]
May 19: tandem biking [success! one of the best days]
May 20: Temple Square [failure—we sat outside the Provo temple and watched missionaries instead]
May 21: play tennis [success]
May 22: doorbell ditch [success]
May 23: roommate dinner with Katie's favorite food [semi-success—Cambrie didn't eat with us]
May 24: bodyrock to "Call Your Girlfriend" [failure]
May 25: buy matching clothes [failure—we looked but didn't find anything we all agreed on]
May 26: go rollerblading [semi-success—we all went Classic Skating instead]
May 27: wear matching outfit to church [success!]
May 28: music video to "Call Me Maybe" [success]
May 29: jump into a swimming pool with all our clothes on [success]
May 30: roommate dinner with Cambrie's favorite food [failure]
May 31: shaved ice [success]
Looking back, we failed at more tasks than I thought. But the important thing is that we got to spend time together and we got to have a lot of experiences that we would not have had otherwise. And we found happiness. Look at those smiles.
I am probably going to start another [lifelong] one pretty soon, so feel free to leave a comment with suggestions for daily tasks. Parameters: can be done alone, can involve the beach.
Stay tuned!
Isn't it amazing how dressing in matching clothes can make one happy?
ReplyDeleteIn the zone I served *ALMOST ALL* of my mission in, we did color coordinated zone pictures each transfer, and it was delightful.
I. love. this.
ReplyDeleteHappiness is portable. It can move to Boston too! Lifelong happiness plan: take up paddle boarding!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I read one of your blog posts you make me smile! I hope we will get to see each other a few times when I'm over on the east coast :)
ReplyDelete