Happiness in the Rearview Mirror

I feel like one of those people having a lovely time at a party, who suddenly looks at their watch, exclaims, "I can't believe the time!" and suddenly jumps up to leave.

I knew it had been a while since my last post, but not that long!

A quick catch up now, and promises of better later.  One post a month at least.  That's all I can commit to really, though I will try to beat it when time allows.

We survived the holidays.  I managed not to get totally stressed out, but it did still feel like I ran a marathon.  And it didn't really end on Christmas, or even New Year's.  There was the delayed birthday celebration for oldest child, then I got sick, and then of course, like all businesses, much of January was taken up with "Sales Kickoff" whereby presentations must be polished, executives briefed, and plans committed to and announced publicly.

I have a big project this coming year, but the company is growing, and job security is a good thing.

We received fitness bands as our holiday gift, and I finally set mine up.  DH is on a roll, 25 pounds lighter in just 4 months!  My initial free ride of 5 lbs lost by not pigging out in front of him have flattened, so I thought I might as well get started. Have been having good luck with it.  Here are a couple of links to reviews to the various brands:

http://www.austinfitmagazine.com/blog/2012/01/19/nike-fuel-band-vs-fitbit

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2413303,00.asp

I have the Jawbone, but only because I received it as a gift.  I do find the sleep tracking interesting, and have started inputting my food on the related app.  It does not look up foods as well as the app DH is using (My Fitness Pal), but I can fudge it.  I have worked out every single day since putting this on (only 5 days so far) so the motivation is working.

Part of all this is I am trying to work on being a happier person.  Instead of my last 2 years resolutions (Get rid of stuff, lose weight), I think being happier will be more rewarding, don't you?

What I noticed was that my greatest happiness seems to come to me in memory, rather than while I am living through something.  "Did you have a good holiday?", coworkers asked me.  In hindsight, yes, we did.  No one got sick (until after), everyone got what they wanted.  Food was good, we are warm, well-fed, well-housed.  We were certainly BUSY, especially me.  But why was I so busy?  Because I have a lot of friends, and they all wanted to gather during the holiday.  I had lots of things to do, make, deliver.  And I did them all.

But instead of reveling in it all, and enjoying the moments I was in, I had a mental checklist the whole season.  As soon as I got one thing done, I was thinking about the next 12 things I had to do.  Very efficient.  But hardly satisfying.

So.  I'm going to try to do better.  I'm plugging back into the Happiness Blog, and taking some vitamins, and wearing a rubber bracelet that reminds me to exercise and eat right.  Let's see how this goes.