We were asked to write down 4-6 things that we do or can do on a regular basis to create happiness and, of course, share it!
1. Reading
2. Listening to and playing music
3. Writing (being creative)
4. Being silly sometimes
5. Getting shtuff done (yes, I misspelled it on purpose)
6. Helping others
(bonus points if you figure out the more subtle “like” from my picture above)
Why don’t I make space for them? What could I do to create more space for them?
Because I’m an adult and things like reading, being creative, and being silly are, well, SILLY! This is no time to be sitting and reading – there’s work to be done! Sure, you can listen to music… while you work, of course! What? You want to be a musician? A writer? Both?! Nonsense. No one can make a living doing that. It’s frivolous. There are more important things that need to be done.
Honestly, I don’t recall anyone ever actually saying this to me and yet, if I do them, I feel I am neglecting my duties. (and yes, the 10 yr old in me just snickered)
Reading makes me happy. My dad used to take me to the library all the time when I was a kid. I have fond memories of conquering summer reading challenges. My favorite place to read was in mom and dad’s bed. I’d finish a book then put it on the floor beside their bed. One time, my dad saw a book we’d just gotten and commented to mom about me just putting the books on the floor and not reading them. She said, “She finished it.” I’d only had it a couple of days. If I’m not mistaken, it was Stephen King’s Pet Sematary or maybe Christine. At one point in time, I LOVED horror novels. The scarier the better. Then someone introduced me to Robert Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land). After a couple of years of relatively tame science fiction, I couldn’t handle horror anymore. I think it also had to do with the fact that I read to escape the real world and, as I’d gotten older and watched the news, I knew that some of those horror novels weren’t too terribly far removed from what was going on in the real world. I still can’t read horror, but I’ll give pretty much anything a chance. At the moment, I’m studying English, so darn – reading is required. Awful. I know. What’s the first thing I do when I get a book? Smell it, of course! It was nice to realize that, in the English department, this is not considered weird.
Music makes me happy. I have a seriously eclectic taste in music. Here’s a glimpse of my playlist: Abba, AC/DC, Adele, Aerosmith, Air Supply, Allman Brothers, American Authors, Bach, Barry Manilow, Beatles, Beethoven, Big Daddy Weave, Black Joe Lewis, Carpenters, Casting Crowns, Chris Rice, Chris Tomlin, Colbie Caillat, Eagles, Emmylou Harris, Eric Hutchinson, Evanescence, Foreigner, Imagine Dragons, Indigo Girls, Jason Mraz, Kathy Mattea, Linkin Park, Metallica, Mozart, Mumford & Sons, Natalie Cole, OneRepublic, Ozzy, P!nk, Roger Miller, Steve Miller Band, Van Halen, Vivaldi, Walk the Moon.
Is your head spinning yet? And that was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
I’m also a musician. Primarily, I play piano. I also play organ, clarinet, and bass clarinet. I remember a few chords on guitar. In college, I dabbled with flute and trombone. When my daughter tested into band and her two highest scores were clarinet and trombone, part of me wanted her to pick trombone so I’d have an excuse to pick it back up. She went with clarinet, though, and is using mine (She corrects me, “It’s mine now, mom!”) and we’re proud of how well she’s doing with it.
Being creative makes me happy. I initially said “Writing” but am revising that. Being creative, in general, seriously makes me happy. Writing, playing music, creating spreadsheets, documents, booklets, signs, whatever. If I get the chance to be creative in whatever it is I’m doing, I’m a happy camper.
Being silly makes me happy. I’m slowly but surely coming around on this one. I used to worry about what other people think. I still do at times, but for the most part, nope. I don’t care. Now, I’m not a prankster (though I enjoy watching a good one unfold). My idea of being silly is more along the lines of singing along to the muzak at the grocery store, whistling while walking along to where ever it is I’m walking to, blowing across the top of my beer bottle or my straw so it makes noise (this last one sounds like a slide whistle if you do it right – try it!), making faces at my daughter when she’s on stage knowing full well how difficult it is for her not to laugh. In my office, I have a happy pill (squeeze him and he laughs, squeeze him again and he stops), a minion, and lolcat and poetry magnets grace my file cabinets. Oh! And I have a 1970 Mustang Mach 1! It’s a matchbox car. Honestly, that’s the safest variety of hot rod for me to have. Truly.
Getting… things done makes me happy. I’ve only recently become a fan of lists. I used to balk at people who talked about the amazing feeling of crossing things off their to do list. I’m honestly not sure when it changed, but I love my list and feel so much more productive when I see what I need to get done and, at the end of the day, see what I got done.
Helping others makes me happy. I work at a rather large teaching hospital. It is not uncommon to see someone walking along with a lost look on their face. I honestly enjoy helping them figure out where they’re going. I get a thrill at paying for the car behind me at a drive-thru. Probably the “scariest” thing I did was share my flatbread pizza with a homeless guy as I walked back from class one afternoon. Wait, no. The scariest thing, in my husband’s opinion, was the night I saw a girl walking along the highway. It was getting dark and it was cold. I turned around and offered her a ride. Dangerous? Yes. I don’t really recommend it and I certainly don’t make a habit of it. In this case, though, I just felt compelled to turn around and ask if she needed a ride. The thing that floored me was how far this child was planning on walking – she lived OUT there! And yes, child. She was a sophomore at the local high school. I feel funny talking about things I’ve done for others. I prefer anonymity. I share these only to say that it really, truly makes me happy to help others in pretty much whatever way they need.
So what do you do that makes you happy?