“Out with the old, in with the new!” A familiar phrase and one people tend to embrace a bit more this time of year. Spring cleaning usually involves some sort of simplifying: going through books, clothes, or those undecipherable piles under the bed and tossing out or donating what isn’t used or needed anymore. As I reflected on that seasonal practice, I thought about what my normal routine had turned into these winter months: work to home to browsing and watching Netflix for hours on end, repeat. After work I just didn’t feel like I had the energy to do anything but sit there. I was dissatisfied. I had less and less energy and, when an opportunity presented itself to grab a cup of coffee with a friend after work or go on a walk, I found that I would rather go home and watch the next episode of my latest obsession. In a sense, I enjoyed watching fake lives playing out fake adventures rather than, well, live my own.
My routine needed a shake-up.
I set out the last forty days month on a mission – determined not to resort to my old habits, but find new, meaningful ones. Leave more room for impulse. Adventure. People! In just a meager 30 days of intentionally trying a new routine I feel like I have more energy, more time (which is odd, because my schedule is a bit fuller than it used to be!) and I feel much more content. I traded in the old for new: writing hand-written notes to friends far away, finishing projects piled up, trying new recipes and spending a lot more time with the people in my life.
I recently stumbled upon some research and advice on how to be “Happier”, which we all know there are sections at Barnes & Noble already devoted to that with a myriad of books touting formulas of happiness, but I was struck by what this research said: “Although our genes influence about 50% of the variation in our personal happiness, our circumstances (like income and environment) affect only about 10%. As much as 40% is accounted for by our daily activities and the conscious choices we make.”[1] If 40% of our happiness is determined by the small decisions made every day that eventually morph into routine, should we not check in with just how fruitful, life-giving and healthy those routines are?
So, with a clean slate before us, where should we trek? What new routines are needed? As more and more research shows, it is not really determined by status and accumulation: “Happiness and fulfillment come less from material wealth and more from relationships; less from focusing on ourselves and more from helping others; less from external factors outside our control and more from the way in which we choose to react to what happens to us.”[2] Relationships, helping others, how we choose to react: all things that seemed to be missing from my day-to-day life! As my routine began to center on relationships, giving back and choosing a different perspective when bad days inevitably hit resulted in a definite impact how I felt each day: happier.
Perhaps there is no better day than today to examine just how happy you are and where some ‘spring cleaning’ might help scare away the dust of drudgery. I hope, for you, there are happy days ahead!
(Taken & adapted from the post on March 20, 2013 in the Journal on The Authenticity Project website).
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