What I Did Instead

I have a secret. I started this blog because I was feeling left out because I did not get invited to ONE dance. (Later, to my excitement, I heard that the dance wasn't fun anyway, but that's a different story.) Before the night of the dance (May 9, 2015), I conducted some research on things that I could do that would take my mind off the dance and keep me happy and focused on positive things instead of the dance. I wrote everything I did down in my journal, and this is what I did!

WHAT I DID INSTEAD OF MIL BALL:

-Read outside

-Ate a bagel with cream cheese

-Took a screen break

-Did my homework outside

-Ate starbursts

-Exfoliated my legs

-Shaved nicely

-Gave myself a hair mask

-Showered

-Watched Smosh Games

-Face mask

-Jammed to The Red Hot Chili Peppers

-Played my Detective Game

-Perfected Winged Liner

-Did some cool eyeshadow looks

-Cleaned makeup brushes

-Journal

-Meditated

-Browse positive tags

Some of these are weird and random, but they were all things that make me happy and took my mind off of something I thought I was missing out on. If you have any questions on the things I did, feel free to ask in the comments below! Also, I would like to share some of my favorite things from the positive tags on tumblr that I browsed. 

• "You deserve flowers on your doorstep and coffee in the morning. You deserve notes left on your dashboard and ice cream sundaes at 3 am. You deserve honesty everyday and to be kissed every hour. You deserve to be reminded how beautiful you are."
• "Shout out to all the poor girls who are fashion queen and rock outfits they saved up for months ago. To all the poor girls who can only afford drug store makeup and make that wing on point. To all the low income ladies who are beautiful and work so hard to look flawless. To all the poor girls who may not have a few nice things, but dream. You make the world go round." (This one is great because it shows that even if you don't have a lot of money you still rock everything, but I don't like the part where it says "work so hard to look flawless" because I believe everybody is the best they can be and you don't need to look flawless to be beautiful and wonderful. I'm sure that is not what the author meant, but I just thought I should point it out.)
• "She has fire in her soul and grace in her heart."
• "First: realize it's ok. Second: Stop looking for 'something' to pick you up. Simply get up and move. Daily gratitude is advised when you are high and low, so do it anyway. Remember, you are loved and good enough."
• "I don't have everything I want, but I have everything I need."
• "Everyday I wake up as someone slightly new. Isn't it wild and intriguing and beautiful to think that everyday we are new?" -Taylor Swift
• "I hope you know that who you are is who you choose to be. And that whispers behind your back don't define you. You are the only one who gets to decide what you will be remembered for." -Taylor Swift (These last two quotes are from the introduction to her 1989 album that can be found in the lyric booklet that comes with the album.)

~Laur.

10 Happiness Challenges

I was on Pinterest this afternoon, and I found a pin called "The 30-Day No Fail Happiness Challenge." I've decided to try it and let you guys know how it goes. I'm going to keep track of it in my journal and at the end of the 30 days, I will make a post and let you guys know how it went.

This got me wondering what other happiness or relaxation challenges there were out there. So, I did some research and here is what I've come up with!

1. 100 Happy Days
The point of this challenge is to take a picture of something that made you happy for 100 days. You can then upload the picture to any social media and use the hashtag #100happydays or create your own hashtag for more privacy (make sure to tell the website what that hashtag is). You can also email your pictures every day if you don't want to clog up people's feeds. At the end of the 100 days, you can get your 100 picture printed out by visiting here and telling your story. I just signed up for this and I'm going to be starting tomorrow! This is as easy as you can get if you ask me. Chances are you are going to be on your phone taking pictures, so you might as well just take a picture of something that made you happy and email it in! Let me know if any of you guys do this challenge! There is even more information on the website, including more benefits so check it out!*

2. How To Be Happy: The 10-Day Happiness Challenge
This is significantly shorter than the previous challenge, so if you are looking for a shorter term challenge, try this one! This one provides you with a new task to do every day, ranging from everything from smiling at every person you meet to lightening your material load. Try this one and let me know how it goes!

3. 30 Day Happiness Challenge
This gives specific things to do each day which I really like. I also really like that by the date it has what each day's main theme is so you can build your day off of that theme. It also focuses more on acceptance of yourself and mind and body then I feel like the other ones do.

4. Happiness Happens Month 31 Day Challenge
This challenge gives you specific things to do each day like the last challenge as well. This one is 31 days instead of 30 so it is perfect for a month that has 31 days instead of 30. What I like about this one is that it has main tasks that make you happen, but it also has sub tasks, like saying thank you and hugging someone that can spread happiness, which I think happiness is all about.

5. The Happiness Challenge
This challenge gives you one task to focus on each week for 8 weeks. Each task in one of the 8 habits that are proven to effect happiness. All you do is type in your email and click your school (it has colleges as the school options, but this is good for all ages). It will send you an email once a week with that week's challenge, the research behind it, and how you can live that challenge. This is great because you can also log on the website to see if you are eligible for rewards like meals and massages if you live in a certain area.*

6. The 30 Day No-Fail Happiness Challenge
This is the challenge that I mentioned at the beginning of this post. This one is simple and lets you really focus on the great things in life. The best thing about this one is that its the same thing each day so you can really focus on those things. It also spread happiness with their day 3 task! I'm trying this one and I will let you know how it goes!*

7. Stress Free 100 Days
This is a stress free challenge but I think having less stress is a key to being happy. It's ironic coming from a girl who is always stressed. It's a great thing to try and do for 100 days. Even if you stop after the 100 days, you will have the tools to calm and handle your stress later.

8. Reduce Stress in 7 Days
This one is way shorter than 100 days, so it's great for a trial run and doesn't need long-term commitment. Enter your email and they'll send you an email one day for the next week with ways to reduce your stress.

9. 30-Day Minimalism Challenge
I know this isn't exactly happiness but it is about learning to live simply, which is only a benefit to becoming happy. Even if you don't do this challenge, I think reading it over and just looking at what living simply can mean will enlighten you to make some changes!

10. Love Me Challenge
This challenge is all about learning to love yourself, which I think is a big part to becoming happy. Being stress free and grateful and spreading happiness is also happiness, but I think the biggest part is loving yourself. I think that when you love yourself you become truly happy. Share each day with a photo, a tweet, blog, video, or write it down to look back on later.*

If you guys try any of these challenges let me know how it goes! I've marked the challenges I will be doing with a star (*) and I will keep you updated with how they go and the results! I hope you guys like my first official post of my blog. I'm excited to see where this goes!


"What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven't happened yet." 
-Unknown

~Laur