It's been a while since I've been had the inspiration to really post on here. But, lately I've had a burst of life management and would love to share it as it progresses... I have much I'd like to say, but considering it would be ironic to have an unorganized blog about life organization, let's start with one thought at a time.. Getting the most tacky/heart-warming one out of the way first, ey?
Supposedly everyone has a "happy place." A place where they mentally or physically run away to in times of stress or discomfort. Where I've honestly seen happy places the most is on TV, on shows to add a humorous element to a characters break down/discomfort. It's especially on new millennium Disney pseudo dramas, and sometimes shows up on cheap, network sitcoms.
I always felt odd that I didn't have a happy place. Actually, when I was younger, even mild problems I'd immerse myself in the issue and obsess over all the problems with it. As I got older, and the idea of a happy place came about, I was always on the look out for one.
In fourth grade, when all of my body issues and self-conscious problems started happening, honestly, Hot Topic was my happy place. It gave me a sense of self and expression that gave me confidence about being different. It allowed me to embrace my difference.
Once I got to sixth grade, or so, Hot Topic evolved, and so did I. I didn't like have one set sense of style and self. I liked exploring myself and having an eclectic wardrobe that expressed my eclectic sense of self. Although, when school began to overwhelm me, and true life issues started, and my life began to feel unorganized, office supply places became my happy place. Still to this day, five years later, I still go there to escape. I can walk around, in the bright, happy, fluorescent lighting in the clean, but not overly sterile, livable space with products that inspired me to organize and center my life. Well, really, it would just organize it. Allow me to solve all of my teenage issues by boxing them up in little cubbies or cabinets or whatever little cute products they had to make it aesthetically pleasing and manageable. It was a quaint thought.
Although.. Now? As an 18 year old, soon to be high school graduate, with semi-"real-life" problems, where's my happy place?...Well... Let's start at my last happy place. I went there a week or two ago. A few days after my four week mark from the last day of school, where I tried on my graduation gown, started my first day of work (a real, corporate chain job), applied for the first time (and got rejected for the first time) for my my own credit card, learned about credit scores & finance joys of being an adult, went to my college adviser, couldn't fit into my perfect dress (or any of the dresses I liked) for my first & last dance of my high school career, and other stressful in-between stuff... I went to an office supply place, hoping to get my mind off of things, and found nothing really terribly helpful. Actually, I began to feel slightly more bogged down.
I've realized, what used to bring me happiness were material solutions to simple lack of self issues as a kid. Now, as I've gotten older, I can realize these issues in myself and solve them. And relaxing for a bit as I clear my mind, meditating, even if it's just for a brief second, is the best escape I've found.
At that moment, the one where I realized that my happy place is created by me, I thought about what truly makes me happy. Like, reading my daily simplicity of joy book, and immersing myself in big projects, and exercise, and meditation, and finding far-out ideas and theories that can put the universe in this whole new perspective. In these moments is where my happy places are found.
So, why not, incorporate those into my everyday life? Why not live in my happy place? Why not string as many of these moments together as I could so you can make your life as much as your happy place as humanly possible?
Stop buying your happiness, and simply live it every day. What I've done is, I've even created a little table of the top 5-10 things that make me happiest, and left some room where I could journal what happened on that mini-journey in that moment, which, as silly as it sounds helps me remember to live out my happiness, and also enables me to keep track of the ever evolving list of things that make me happy and/or become stagnant. As tacky as it sounds, it kind of adds a bit of sunshine to my otherwise, drudgery hour-to-hour planner.
Although.. Now? As an 18 year old, soon to be high school graduate, with semi-"real-life" problems, where's my happy place?...Well... Let's start at my last happy place. I went there a week or two ago. A few days after my four week mark from the last day of school, where I tried on my graduation gown, started my first day of work (a real, corporate chain job), applied for the first time (and got rejected for the first time) for my my own credit card, learned about credit scores & finance joys of being an adult, went to my college adviser, couldn't fit into my perfect dress (or any of the dresses I liked) for my first & last dance of my high school career, and other stressful in-between stuff... I went to an office supply place, hoping to get my mind off of things, and found nothing really terribly helpful. Actually, I began to feel slightly more bogged down.
I've realized, what used to bring me happiness were material solutions to simple lack of self issues as a kid. Now, as I've gotten older, I can realize these issues in myself and solve them. And relaxing for a bit as I clear my mind, meditating, even if it's just for a brief second, is the best escape I've found.
At that moment, the one where I realized that my happy place is created by me, I thought about what truly makes me happy. Like, reading my daily simplicity of joy book, and immersing myself in big projects, and exercise, and meditation, and finding far-out ideas and theories that can put the universe in this whole new perspective. In these moments is where my happy places are found.
So, why not, incorporate those into my everyday life? Why not live in my happy place? Why not string as many of these moments together as I could so you can make your life as much as your happy place as humanly possible?
Stop buying your happiness, and simply live it every day. What I've done is, I've even created a little table of the top 5-10 things that make me happiest, and left some room where I could journal what happened on that mini-journey in that moment, which, as silly as it sounds helps me remember to live out my happiness, and also enables me to keep track of the ever evolving list of things that make me happy and/or become stagnant. As tacky as it sounds, it kind of adds a bit of sunshine to my otherwise, drudgery hour-to-hour planner.
