31 Days off Your Duff {Day 18} - Do What Makes You Happy

By a show of hands, how many of you do something every day that truly makes you happy?

Hmm... well, I can't see you all, but I'm going to throw out a guess that not many of you raised your hand.

As a coffee shop owner, I see a lot of people every day. And the majority of these people seem to have the goal of just surviving until they get to go back to bed. Very few seem to actually be taking enjoyment out of their lives.

That's right about where I was the beginning of this year; lot's of personal things were negatively affecting my life, my beagle was diagnosed with cancer, people I cared about were having problems... some days it was indeed hard to enjoy anything.

But that's no way for any of us to go on living.

Make a List

Of course, some of us have problems even figuring out what it is that makes us happy. There are so many options available, it's hard to find what you really like!

That's why over the summer, I decided to write a list. This list would have no real order or reason; it would simply be the things that make me happy, make me peaceful, make me excited, anything that gets good feelings going. Afterwards I would look over the list to see if I could act upon anything that was there.

So, I got started. I won't name everything on the list, but here are a few items:

• Pretty chocolates
• Spots
• Creating things in down time (I'll explain in a moment)
• Rain
• Shopping
• Logic Problems

Now, after looking at this list, I decided I could easily start with Chocolatiering. I had always loved beautiful chocolate, the art of making chocolate, eating chocolate, all of it, and I finally realized that I should be doing something about it!

So I started making chocolates for my shop. Hooray! I loved doing that, but chocolate don't sell well all the time, so I couldn't make as many as I really wanted.

Ah well. I put that on the back burner right now. I may try and get a part-time job at a chocolate shop one day, but that isn't going to happen at the moment.

Finally Finding Something

I won't bore you with all the things I've tried from my long list, but suffice to say I have just picked up crocheting (this falls under the very vague "create things" item).

Instead, it's time for you to go make your list. Even if you are one of the lucky few who enjoy your days (hopefully with a good cup of tea!), it can't hurt to identify the areas in which you could enjoy yourself a little more.

So! Get off your duff and be happy!