July Happiness Project Recap

My Happiness Project is working and I cannot explain how or why. Though by project standards I did not meet all my July goals, it was still wildly successful. July's focus was "Work" with the goals of:

• Meet New People
• No Gossip
• Listen and Engage
• Learn phrases in Other Languages
• Be Qualified 

The overall outcome was great. I'll be starting a new job in a week, which is something that I've been waiting for years. It will be exciting and hopefully my honeymoon period will last a long time.

The hardest parts of July's goals was no gossip and learning new phrases in other languages. I basically only learned bank phrases when I waited in line at the Bank of America on Sand Lake Road, mostly because of all the signs and non-English speakers. I also tried to learn service phrases, but that died out quickly. The no gossip rule changed mid-month to less gossip, which was much more attainable. I found myself not feeding into the gossip, but it surrounds you sometimes it is hard to escape. I do not think this will be a problem in my new location.

I tried my best to meet new people. This was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone and talking to all sorts of people. It's not my favorite thing, as believe it or not, I'm a naturally more reserved person.

I excelled this month in listen and engage, and of course, being qualified. Any time people came to me with a concern, I would try to stop what I was doing (unless I couldn't) and talk about how they felt about the situation. I found that getting them to understand the situation as a whole, also got the brain thinking. Although, this goes back to me picking and choosing who I engaged with.

Being qualified is something that I was tired of people saying I wasn't. I spent a lot of time on the Internet figuring things out. Any time I did not know something, I'd find the answer to understand it. I'm by no means a rocket scientist now, but I found that I am more qualified to speak on the subjects that interest me. I believe that this reflected in my new job. I can't wait to take what I've learned and apply it.

Now for August! Completely out of my norm is "Have Fun" month. I so rarely have fun to the point where I am miserable. I mean for goodness sake I work 7-days a week (and some nights) and get home exhausted. Now, I have a normal Monday through Friday job and although the thought of getting a weekend job crossed my mind, John and my parents agreed I should not (at least not yet).

So for August fun month the goals are:

• Take local adventures
• Spend Out
• Take Time
• Say Yes

Florida, from what I am told, is a fun place. I plan to go do all the things that I've heard about since becoming a resident here four years ago. Spending out means, stop being a cheap person and spend the cash that I've earned. This is scary because I hate spending money, but we'll see. Take time. I think this means for me to just enjoy doing nothing and really taking care of myself. Say yes is dangerous. I say yes all the time then end up over committed and exhausted. So I think saying yes to fun and adventure will be how I interpret it. 

Some trips I'd like to make are: Gatorland, the Beach, Weiki Watchi Springs, Food Trucks, the other beach, the zoo, etc. Should be exciting. I think my family has caught on to these experiments. I felt bad for a second subjecting everyone to my monthly goals, but I think it's working. August should be a good one for us all.