Happiness Ver 2.0

I’m still working on my letters of thanks!

As for my ideals, here they are:

1. [Professional] I want to secure a public school teaching position within the next two years. To do this I need to update my resume, cover letter, and references and send the information directly to principals and department heads; I also need to commit to checking online job postings weekly.
2. [Personal] I am trying to complain less. I seem to do it the most when I’m around Matt. I can tell it’s annoying him. I don’t pick and nag at him, but he has became my dumping ground; I unload all my negativity, worries, and complaints on him, and that’s not fair. First, I need to remind myself that I am not my thoughts. I need to stop identifying with these negative impulses so much and focus more on what I can do about the issue at hand. Instead of saying, “My neck hurts,” I can simply pop an Aspirin or take a nap without commenting on it. Instead of rehashing how frustrated I am to not be getting any job interviews, I can send my resume to five more principals. I think for the first few days I will literally need to bite my tongue to hold back the complaints, but I’m sure it will become easier as time goes on.
3. [Social] I would like to spend more time with friends and meet some new people. I need to get back in touch with Amy about reinstating “Bachelor” night; actually, I may suggest we turn it in to Martini or Matinee Monday – we can get drinks or see a movie. I am also interested in joining a book club or taking a photography class. I will start looking into the options this week.

Now for some gratitude. A lot of great things happened this week, but here are my favorites:
1. Matt took the whole week off from work, so we get to share some quality time together.
2. I finally bought some new work pants - I am getting closer to having a more pulled together professional look.
3. Matt and I had a really fun time in the city on Sunday. We went back to Intelligentsia for coffee, had drinks at the bar in Trump Tower, and watched the USA vs Canada hockey game at ESPN Zone.

I think the hardest part of the happiness challenge is listing my strengths and ways to build on them. I have been so focused on my job, my health, and trying to start a family I have been neglecting other aspects of my life. And that’s kind of tragic, because I’ve been depriving myself of opportunities to experience joy. After some serious thought, I came up with this:

1. Matt always tells me I’m a good cook; I plan to improve this skill by cooking two real meals per week. Matt and I are both dieting, and he still wants to eat his “healthy” tv dinners a few times per week, so I’ll start off by cooking twice every week. For some people, that’s nothing…but for me, that’s a lot!
2. I love writing. I get a lot of enjoyment from blogging, but I’d like more of a challenge. I recently resurrected my Helium account, so I am going to strive to write at least one article per week. I’ll write more if I have the time, but one is better than none!
3. Finally, I have always fancied myself an artistic sort of person. I can draw and write, and I think I have an eye for photography. I plan to develop my photography skills by taking one picture per day for the next 365 days. I will start on March 1st. I hope to see a marked improvement in my pictures by the end of that project!

I haven’t signed up for a volunteer project yet, but I’m looking into it. I’ll probably sign up for a charity walk and collect donations at work.

I am trying to create morning and evening routines for the work week; I’ll definitely have to work some of this stuff (i.e. job hunting and book club or photography class) into it!