I started my Happiness journey back in 2018 and it has taken on many shapes and forms since then, 2019 I thought my journey was over and that I was a much happier person only to find that the demons I worked so hard to obliterate had slowly crept back into my life.
The battles were won but the war would never be over, and when 2020 rolled in I was again riddled with constant stress and anxiety that would last for weeks on end. At the end of 2020 is when I realized that my Happiness Journey can never end and it should never end.
It has taken me a few years to realize that my life and my quest for happier exitance is a journey that will never end. It is a journey that I will always aspire to, it’s not just a focus on having a more positive mindset but to live my life happier.
This past year I started a new Happiness Journey, while in 2018 I kept my daily journey on FaceBook this time around I started a blog so I could reach a wider audience and I wrote daily in an amazing journal I discovered in 2020 called the Hero’s Journal which completely changed my outlook my treating my life as an adventure and my goals as quests.
This year I published 365 blog posts and went through 4 separate hero’s journals filling them out every single day this year. What will be coming next year is more of the same because what I learned this past year is blogging every day and journaling every day helps me to stay focused on the things I am most grateful for in my life.
As I go back through the four journals I filled out this past year there are a few things that I can really take away from them. When listing things I am grateful for every day My husband ranked the highest throughout the year. When it comes to what or who my allies are I have found that while I have many people, places, and things that are my allies I alone am my best ally. I have figured out that I alone control how outside forces make me feel, as long as I do not let those things control me I can be the master of my own journey.
This past year was filled with many accomplishments, I have become much more mindful about my physical limitations and learned to seek help when needed instead of pushing myself too far. I’ve also learned to not only manage my time better but to also prioritize my days so I am not too much.
Focusing on finding at least one thing each day that makes me happy regardless of how big or small helped me to shift my mindset to always look at the positive and to allow the negative things to roll right off without making a lasting impact. I have also noticed a decline in days where I had anxiety or unexplained sadness. It still amazes me how much better I’ve also gotten in regards to communicating my feeling. Being more mindful of how I’m feeling allows me to recognize how I’m feeling and do things that I know can counteract those feelings, like getting hugs from my hubby.
With the focus on being happier, I have also had one of the most creative past couples of years I have had in a long time, I was able to share so much of my art with people at SyFy Bartow, that was one of the highlights of my year as I felt so validated as an Artist.
On top of all the progress I have made for my own self-care my husband and I also made quite a lot of memories this year. Our beloved Football team and hockey team both won their respective championships. We went on a new adventure and did a boat tour in Mt. Dora. We were able to attend Dragon Con where I got to wear the Elvan dress that I made. I was able to attend a spiritual retreat that I found relaxing and even got to celebrate my birthday in Disney this year.
And lastly, my husband and I got to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary by reminding each other why we got married in the first place.
Overall it has been an amazing year and I can’t wait to see what the next year brings, I will continue to blog daily as well as journal daily and tomorrow I hope to discuss what potential new quests 2022 will hold for me.