A little -The Happiness Project- list

English text below, omg! Waarom? Omdat het boek waar dit over gaat in het Engels geschreven was en ik toen automatisch dit ook in het Engels ging schrijven en dat toen ik me dat realiseerde ik niet wist of ik het online zou gaan plaatsen of juist niet en ik daarom dus gewoon maar op die manier doorging. (Poeh, lezen jullie dat op dezelfde manier als dat ik het schrijf? In een adem en heel snel?)

I just finished this book called ‘The Happiness Project’, written by Gretchen Rubin. It’s not that she’s depressed or unhappy, it’s just that she thinks she can be happier than she is. In order to achieve this she makes a list of twelve things she wants to realise, one for each month of the year. To help her with this she also makes a list of ‘Secrets of Adulthood’, which contains lessons she’s (finally) learned over the years (they’re handy and funny and I especially like ‘Most decisions don’t require extensive research’ and ‘over-the-counter medicines are very effective’) and a list of the ‘Twelve Commandments’, which are the overarching principles that started to emerge while putting this project together. Both these lists come back throughout the entire book to help her reach her happiness goals and one of them in particular has taught me an important lesson: ‘Be Gretchen’. That’s all it exists of. To be Gretchen, a.k.a. herself.

Of course this isn’t completely new to me. I think every person has heard that advice too many times in their lives to still be able to realise exactly what it means and also how much it can mean when following it up. But in her book Gretchen gets back to this in almost every chapter and thus  with every goal she wants to achieve, and that way she shows how to really use this advice and maybe even more importantly how to figure out what it means to you, to really be you. Part of that is to admit to yourself what you really like, think, hope, etc.

So, that said… a quick first list of Being Sarah in no particular order… Here it is:

• I like playing boardgames.
• For some reason it’s a lot easier to eat in a restaurant or cafe than at home.
• Hi, I’m Sarah and I’m a pop music lover. *Hi Sarah*
• I can’t stand having long nails but I love a little polish on them.
• I think I’m quite positive but I have plenty of moments being pessimistic about things as well.
• I used to be a little awkward about being the un-cool person that I am, being easily over-enthusiastic, into ‘boring’ things… but now I realise I am who I am and I’m turning it around into a positive thing!
• I absolutely hate CF and can’t understand when other patients say they wouldn’t trade it.
• However, it is what it is and most of the time I’m pretty ok with that.
• The thought of Alzheimer scares me more than having CF.
• I love superficial luxury stuff once in a while like stupidly expensive hotels and exclusive service.
• I also love just sitting next to people that I love doing nothing much.
• I don’t agree that money can’t buy happiness. However, of course money alone can’t.
• Procrastination is my middle name.
• Never thought much of it but gardening turns out to be one of the coolest things.
• I don’t like asking for help even though I know it would make life easier.
• Whatever the last thing is that I learned about, is the thing I want to devote my life to – for about a week.
• I’m a bit jealous of people that seem to have a clear goal in life.
• But then again I think it’s easier to live in the moment if you don’t have that goal yet.
• I love languages.
• There is a big soft spot in me for the underdogs and I get pretty wound up about people that don’t seem to (want to) understand that group of society.
• I go all weak in the knees when my hair is being played with.
• I regularly spend hours online researching something useless.
• I cry pretty easily during movies, books, music, etc. Whether it’s because of sadness, happiness, compassion, excitement, or any other emotion you could possibly combine with tears!
• I don’t cry easily in real life.
• Beautiful, comfy, new bed sheets are very exciting to me.
• I’m a big fan of making and reading lists.
• I’m not good at keeping sentences short – something I’m reminded of with everything I’ll ever write!