Happiness...the finish line, but just beginning...

So today's the day...last day of my happiness challenge. I guess over the last week or so I've been reflecting on this challenge and what it meant to me, what I hoped to achieve and everything that has happened in between.

I remember the first day I decided to do this challenge, the thought of changing my lens on how I view the world was really appealing. I didn't know if it was going to work but nothing ventured, nothing gained right? It's really interesting to read my first post and how hopeful I was and am so gratified that I decided to do it, and pushed through the hard days.

Today has been a little difficult as we are home sick again today - E woke up worse if anything, so I really have my fingers crossed that these antibiotics kick in sooner rather than later. He alternates between warm and sweaty and cold and clammy and the tummy pains have been coming rather than going...not good. I've been dosing him up with lots of vitamins so here's hoping his immune system decides to give a roundhouse kick to all these yukky germs he's got going on.

So it's been pretty non-eventful which isn't exactly the way I wanted to end the challenge - I kind of wanted to go out with a bang. So I might take a different tack today and look overall at my challenge and what I'm grateful for.

Gratitudes:

• Overall, for the past 21 days life has been a roller coaster. When looking back, I can hardly believe that we are now in the situation that we are in, with an imminent move and a complete change to our whole lives. Three weeks ago my Toowoomba Project was in the pipeline, but definitely more in the 'I wish we could' category. Now just a few short weeks later, I now have a fabulous new job, resigned my existing one and gotten a wonderful (I hope) new place to live. Wow. If you'd told me this on Day 1 of the challenge, I probably wouldn't have believed you!
• I am really grateful for the meditation part of the challenge. I have slept better and been calmer than I thought possible during all of this change. It definitely helps keep any anxiety at bay. In fact, before my job interview I was so ridiculously nervous! You have to understand it's been such a long time since I had an interview and I was so rusty, so much was riding on it, I sat in the carpark there in Toowoomba absolutely freaking out. But I took a few deep breaths and spent five minutes clearing my mind and convincing myself that 'you got this'. And I did!
• One thing about being at home again today is that I actually made some real headway into my list. Removalists? Done! Electricity disconnect/reconnect? Done! Phone and internet? Done! I've also advised E's school of his imminent departure, paid the deposit on my new place and of course spent some time fart-assing about transcribing my list onto my Ipad. As you do. I even cracked a few boxes and quickly filled three or four before the momentum stalled. I've also taken some paint off a wall that I need to have repaired and thankfully my extremely handy builder friend has volunteered to fix this over the weekend. Handy friends are good to have and I'm pleased that my singular friend in Toowoomba has a very handy husband who I might have to borrow from time to time. Hey, remember I come from a family of women, who were generally in property management who had handy friends in high places on speed dial. And the less we say about my father's so-called 'handyman' skills, the better. Don't get me started on the time he cleaned the fish tank filter - let's just say it took 5 minutes to dismantle and 2 weeks to re-mantle (if that's a word). Enough said

Journal:
What a crazy couple of weeks, huh? I'm really looking forward to settling into our new place and letting life return to some sense of normalcy. I do feel so much better knowing that most of the important things are now under control - the only critical things left are to organise carpet cleaning and enrol E in his new school. Did I mention we google earth-ed our place and completely accidentally have managed to get a house 2 blocks from the nearest primary school? So awesome - E is used to having to get up so early to bus it to school and now he'll be able to roll out of bed and rock up in 5 minutes. So good.

Dad just rang and they are in Toowoomba tonight and he drove past our new place and has given the thumbs up. Apparently it's a beautiful street full of trees and lovely homes although he did say that the basketball hoop is missing (sadface). Will need to remedy that stat.

So now I look forward to all of the things I want to do in Tooowoomba, there's so many I'll have to make another list! First item on the agenda is to organise regular walking excursions with Willow and E and we're also going to take up yoga. I've been hearing so much lately about the benefits of hot yoga and really want to check it out - this sad old body could definitely make good use of sweating out some toxins. And as promised to my future self I need to start taking better care of me.

Other items high on the agenda is of course setting up our new place and maybe I'll even get an outdoor setting! I have an enormous balcony here but due to my champagne tastes/beer budget I have spent the last three years with this huge space filled with a BBQ and three plastic chairs. I have a covered outdoor area at my new place, according to the ad, however as it's at the back of the house and there's people still living there, dad wasn't able to report back on what it was like (no photos available on the ad unfortunately). With winter coming up I guess we'll be huddled inside for a few months so it will give me time to look around and save up for what I really want.

It's exciting to be moving somewhere I've never lived into a house I've never actually seen - the ad showed pics of a lounge room, great kitchen (with dishwasher - total necessity) and garage only. So the bedrooms, bathroom and outside are all going to be a surprise - hopefully a nice one. I'd like to think that with such a fantastic kitchen the rest of the house will match up too - however if not we can always move again although obviously this is something I'd like to avoid.

So happiness challenge - done. I really do think it has been so incredibly beneficial and I would highly recommend it to anyone in need of a bit of happiness in their lives. There were a few tough days thrown in the mix but ultimately I managed to find three gratitudes every single day, even if some of them were fairly lame! Every day got easier though, so I guess this tiny mind has programmed itself to look for the upside, which is what I wanted to achieve out of this all along. I have also learned to enjoy the now instead of 'being happy when'. Even despite sickness, anxiety and some major changes, life has been pretty damned good.

Random act of kindness:
Due to our housebound status, this is again really lame and consists of E getting a treat today consisting of his first taste of the new type of Rice Bubble bars - strawberry flavoured. Apparently it was delicious. I feel a bit let down as I kind of wanted to do something spectacular but I guess it's the consistency of taking the time to do something nice for someone every day that is the point.

Meditation:
Overall I may have fallen asleep in the middle of my poor attempts more times than I can count, but as I mentioned before, I've slept better and managed stress better than I have in ages so I really think this is something I'll try to incorporate into daily life from here-on out.

I hope this finds you at the end of your own challenge, if you did do it (or something similar) I'd love to hear how you went with it. Is there anything you do on a daily or regular basis that makes you happy? I feel like my future is wide-open and I'm really keen to try some new things so any suggestions would be welcome!

I leave you now with some photos that always make me smile...of course they're all of E!

xx

Happiness, forwarding addresses and chocolate. Day 19

So today I have felt absolutely lousy. I've been battling something for a few days now and I think it's about to win the war. I woke up with a raging headache and despite about 3 litres of water, a good proportion more than the prescribed dose of Nurofen and two Hydralite drinks in case it stemmed from dehydration, I am still struggling.

The Nurofen have taken the edge off slightly but have just left me feeling somewhat loopy so apologies if I ramble or simply don't make sense today.

Generally I should probably take the 'day off' my blog, as who wants to read about someone being sick? But I feel that I've gotten so far through my challenge that I'd feel a bit let down that I didn't see it through. It may be short and sweet but even feeling like utter crap, I am sure I can muster up some positivity and maybe it will help kill off the sick cells currently waging war inside me. Come on dopamine, don't fail me now...

Gratitudes:

• So I got a house today! That's something I am so relieved and thankful for. The rental application process is brutal, and as I mentioned previously, this particular real estate seemed overly zealous, ringing pretty much every family member, colleague, sometime acquaintance and high school nemesis (nemeses?) they could track down. Huge thanks to all those who were pestered contacted and forced to say something nice about me. My new place seems so cute, I looked it up on Google Street View and am dying to see inside, I hope it measures up to the photos and if it doesn't I will simply blame those same people whose kind words helped my application be successful. The best part is there is a park literally less than a block away, although I've somehow ended up backing onto a Catholic primary school so I really, REALLY hope they don't have church bells ringing before dawn on Sundays
• I am so happy that things are now all systems go - with a forwarding address I can now really get stuck into the logistics and despite being too brain-dead to actually progress to much today, I have contacts for pretty much everything all written out ready for me to attack in Scarlett fashion, ie. tomorrow
• Thanks to all of my colleagues who told me today they're not sure how they'll cope without me, I know you're telling porky pies to boost my ego but it worked. Smile in place despite agonising pain in head

Journal:
Today's journal should really simply read "made it". As this is incredibly lame I will try to elaborate. I'm trying to wrap things up and hand things over and am in the process of writing heaps of lists both at work and at home. With severe brain fog it's not that easy but I think I managed to sound vaguely coherent when explaining something to one of my newer colleagues.

I'm also excited about some very cool plans my fellow bloggers and I have for our blog - stay tuned to see some regular features from Cathy and Willow that are so uniquely them and promise to make you laugh, dance and salivate. Can't wait to read them myself!

Random act of kindness:
I have a laptop and an external monitor at work that I use as a dual screen combo - highly recommend this setup to anyone, it is brilliant. Anyway, today I offered my monitor to one of my bosses when I leave and you'd think I just handed him a lifetime supply of chocolate. He was ridiculously excited and both his PA and I are hoping his 'shiny new toy' will divert his attention away from his unholy fascination with Iphone apps for at least a week or two.

Meditation:
Despite a nanna nap yesterday I still had no trouble falling asleep and think I nodded off in the middle once again...ooops. Perhaps some things take longer than the prescribed 21 days?

So hoping I feel better tomorrow and can offer something more exciting than 'my head hurts' and 'I'm moving'.

xx

Happiness. Pasta. Bubbles and Boxes. Day 18

Just a couple of days left of my challenge and I'm determined to finish it on a high note! I've been thinking in the last few days about the lessons I've learned and how although the challenge may be winding down, the trick is to keep looking for positives and making sure I don't backslide into any negative thinking.

Moving to a new town will definitely help with this as there will be so many new things to discover and all of the fun things that go along with exploring a new environment and finding where we fit in.

Onwards and upwards, huh?

Gratitudes:

• So happy to see my dad today and spend a lovely few hours with him. We had an amazing Italian dinner which was so yummy but I'm now so full I think I'm about to explode! E had basically an upscale version of mac and cheese, followed by cookies & cream gelati which looked really awesome. Nice to also see that The Voice transcends all age barriers as dad had to rush back to their hotel and us to our apartment to make sure we didn't miss a moment. They're only in town briefly so that my stepmother can have a few tests so this is likely the last time we'll see dad whilst residents of Brisbane (another 'last'!)
• Dad also brought me so many boxes for my move that I think I'm now more than sorted! So grateful for these, boxes cost upwards of $5 each these days so it is a huge saving. Now I'll be able to get started on packing up my place. Reality sinking in!
• So grateful for the long weekend and nanna naps. I lay down to read this afternoon and the next thing I know it was an hour later. Felt so good to have a little snooze during the day, it really is a luxury when you're a mum!

Journal:
Not a great deal to report today apart from seeing dad this afternoon. We had a long, lovely lazy day broken up only by a quick trip to the bakery for some provisions. As the shops were all shut for the public holiday (closing on Labour Day...oxymoron???) I actually had to take the car out but I guess I'm just getting into practice for my move to Toowoomba. Cannot imagine my new place will be less than a 2 minute walk to the shopping centre so I'll have to get used to it!

Was just thinking that there are going to be so many changes to our lifestyle that it's ridiculous. Right now we throw our rubbish down a chute, we'll have to get used to remembering 'bin night' once again! We also have an automatic swipe door on our building so having to use keys will be kind of weird!

But the pluses definitely outweigh any negatives so it's all good.

It was also fun to watch E have his first soft drink tonight in more than a decade. When he was little he was handed a cup of what he thought was red cordial but was actually soda, took a huge gulp through a straw and promptly went red and started spewing bubbles everywhere. The look on the poor little guy's face was priceless and I couldn't help laughing. Since then he's refused to try any sort of drink with bubbles, which has been perfectly OK with me. But he announced the other day that he'd like to try lemonade as he likes lemonade ice blocks. So he had a couple of sips and decided that whilst he didn't hate it exactly, he's still not a fan of the bubbles!

So all in all, it's been a fantastic weekend. So happy right now!


Random Act of Kindness:
I picked E up his favourite meat pie for lunch from the bakery down the road. It's so lovely to have a child who gets excited over something so little.

Meditation:
I was so tired last night but actually made it all the way through and immediately had one of the best night's sleeps I've had in ages! Success!

So hoping you all had a fantastic weekend! We're off now to watch The Voice, hooray!

xx

Grab a man before the music stops...

On news.com.au today there's an interesting article where the Catholic Church has warned girls to stop being picky and grab an available man, any available man, at an early age to marry. Or else you'll miss out.

The Catholic Church can generally be relied upon to provide great giggle fodder. Usually I avoid religious topics as it they're dangerous waters (what do they say, no religion or politics at the dinner table?) but I decided I'd like to swim with the sharks today.

So here we go.

Now let's get this out of the way quickly before I get accused of religion-bashing. I'm not especially church-y, however definitely not an atheist either. I believe in something, I just haven't yet defined what it is. I just don't think whoever made us would have given us thoughts, intelligence (debate for another day) and the ability to feel things so intensely if there wasn't some giant purpose to it all. However I have been brought up to question things, analyse and investigate to find truth, so I find it hard to just wholeheartedly believe in something I've been told without having to query it first. I did quite a bit of studies into various different religions at school and it only confused the issue - if this religion is right, does that make the other wrong?

Anyway, let's just say I've been brought up to believe that if you live by the Ten Commandments you can't go too far wrong - don't lie, don't steal, don't kill, don't covet things and don't steal the neighbour's hubby, they're the basic tenets of my life. Can't say I've nailed them but isn't life a work in progress?

To be honest I'm really envious of those who have genuine faith, as they seem so content and fulfilled in their lives and so grateful for all the small things. I have a couple of friends who are believers and I love to talk to them as their eyes shine when they speak of their faith and it's beautiful.

So back to the topic at hand.

Should us ladies give up on finding Mr Right to snatch up Mr Available before the age of 25, just so we don't miss out on marriage?

The article says there is a dearth of available men between the ages of 25 to 34. Basically there's 15 women to every man. Lucky men.

Mind you, 'available' is defined as unmarried, single, heterosexual, earning over $60k a year and NOT a single parent. Interesting criteria, does a man with a child make him not a good catch? Maybe at 24 I would have agreed but at my age I think a daddy who loves his child is actually a pretty big draw.

The article does raise an interesting question, particularly as I'm at my age and still unmarried. In the quest to have it all, are women missing out on marriage? Or is the church placing too much importance on marriage as opposed to happiness and fulfillment? Of course the church needs marriage as that's the only way we can reproduce right? (oops). But what about love?

Should we be latching onto someone who ticks a couple of boxes, rather than holding out for someone special?

Personally I don't hate being single. Mine and E's lives are calm and centred and we get to live how we want. I'm pretty independent and don't like someone in my face all the time, I feel smothered really easily. Of course I'd love to find a man who would enhance our lives, but until that day comes I'm content to live as we are. Better that than being with someone who doesn't make me happy.

Of course I realise that I'm probably the anomaly here. For starters I have a child so my biological clock isn't about to explode in case I miss out on having kids. And I like to spend time alone, which I know many don't. I don't need a man to make me feel complete, I AM complete. So until I can be 'happily married' or partnered or whatever I'm OK with being single.

Personally articles like this really annoy me because they play on our fears that we're going to be old and alone and miss out on the big white wedding we've all been dreaming about and planning since we were little.

So what do you think? Do you think that women are missing out on marriage because we're too picky, is the church too focused on women sucking it up for the purpose of marriage, despite whether or not it makes you happy? Are you afraid that when the music stops you'll be left alone? I'd love to know.

xx