New life. New habits. And silly jars.

My recent happiness challenge may be officially finished, however the lessons I have learned from my challenge is that positivity should be practiced daily and be a life-long habit! I will make it my mission to seize every chance to be happy, to look for the upside in life and live, laugh, love and be inspired every day.

I've been writing a list - yes, another list! - of things to do to keep my new and improved attitude through my transition to my new life in Toowoomba:

• Embrace the cold and use it to energise me. I am lucky that I tend to rev up in cold weather and impersonate a sloth during the heat so I will make it my mission to walk and talk to people instead of email and get out in the fresh air as often as I can (with earmuffs on naturally)
• Talk to one person I don't know every single day
• Make a silly jar. And choose one task daily to execute. I won't have to twist E's arm to join me!
• Make a positivity wall - frame those photos and favourite Pinterest images and hang them where I can look at them every day and remember, imagine and be inspired
• Decorate my new place in my style. Create, design and imagine like I used to, I have a million ideas! Living in a brand new place over the last few years without the ability to hang things on walls or individualise has left me empty and I'm ready to make my home fit me instead of fitting in with it (and Cathy, I'm going to hit you up for that painting you've been promising to do for me xx)
• Start sewing again, I used to love making my own pieces that were uniquely me
• Ditto jewellery, I spent months as a teenager stuck at home with glandular fever making earrings and bracelets and I loved creating something limited only by my imagination. I have heard the country's best bead warehouse is located just 15 minutes from Toowoomba so I'll be planning a sojourn in the very near future
• Play basketball with my son and start (and keep) some healthy habits!
• Explore yoga. My friend has hooked me up with a phone number of her friend who specialises in Bikram (hot) yoga. Embrace both the body/mind experience, despite sweating like a hog
• Write every day. When I started this blog I didn't really know what I wanted to write, just that I wanted a place to express something when I felt like I needed to. At first it was sometimes difficult to write anything. What did I want to say, and did I want my private thoughts out there for public consumption and possible ridicule? Do I really want to invite people into my life in such a fashion? What has been most surprising is that after a few weeks, I am now inspired to write every day and actually find it more difficult to distil my thoughts and not bombard my blog with multiple posts every day. It's an incredibly cathartic experience that I'd recommend to anyone. Already I feel more open and receptive to new things and having always been an intensely private person, this is a liberating experience!
• Be fearless. I have lived too many years afraid to do things because of the reaction I may or may not get, or what people might think. Taking a few leaps of faith recently has taught me that fear just holds you back and when you let go of it, and embrace opportunity instead, everything starts to fall in place
• Explore. Moving to a new town that I'm not that familiar with is exciting. I vow to find something new and interesting about my new hometown every weekend
• Take more photos. I am the sort of person who might snap one or two pics and then not bother for the rest of the night. I like to generally try to BE in the moment rather than hiding behind the camera however I have so many memories and very little documented evidence
• Learn how to build a fire. I will be fearless and persevere until I get it right, or am frozen solid.  Please note wood chopping is not on this list and is never likely to be

Let me know if you have any ideas for my silly jar! Write your own list and link back in the comments, I'd love to read it.

xx