Day 21

It’s Day 21—the day that Shawn Achor said that I’d notice a difference in my happiness level through the 5 tasks that I’ve done every day.  Every.  Single.  Day.  I’ve come a long way since Day 1, but I promised myself 30, so I’ll keep going before I do a full on evaluation on my evolution, a valuation of this as a solution, or a congratulation for my determination.  I hope no one has an objection to this completion situation.

Exercise

It was a rainy day here in San Francisco, so in lieu of jogging, I did thirty minutes of yoga in my room.  When I was done, there was a human-shaped puddle of sweat on my mat.  I used to think that I didn’t have the personal drive to finish a full yoga work out on my own, without a class to judge and compel me forward, but apparently I was wrong.

Meditation

I did twenty minutes today listening to that drone music that seems to work for me.  Some dark thoughts tried to come in and commandeer my brain, but I kept going back to the drone and all was well (and has continued to be well).

Random act of kindness

My roommate has been working some pretty insane hours the last few days and extending into today (a Saturday).  And he leaves early tomorrow morning for a weeklong business trip to D.C.  So I tried to do what I could for him today so that he could focus on completing his work and wouldn’t have to leave the house for anything he might need for his trip.  He’d have done the same for me.

3 things I’m grateful for

1)   Freelance writing work that pays for the occasional rib-eye and keeps my grammar skills sharp (mostly)2)   This rainy Saturday morning and lazy time in bed that isn’t riddled with depression and anxiety3)   My computer that I just paid off.  Thanks for being there and no longer charging me for it.

Reflect on something good that happened

I frequently curse strangers under my breath.  This typically occurs because they’re somehow in my way or preventing me from doing something.  Examples:  a group of people walking slowly down the sidewalk and I can’t move around them; or people at the grocery store whose carts are blocking up an entire aisle.  The common theme here is that it’s people that don’t know they’re in my way.  And what do I normally do or say to them?  Nothing.  I curse their idiocy in silence and find another way to get around them.  Why get angry at someone for something they don’t know they’re doing?  This makes no sense.  So today I didn’t do it.After running some errands with my roommate’s car, I saw a parking space at the end of a block, just behind a car where the owner was getting things out of his trunk.  He had parked in a way that there was quite a bit of space in front of him and just a little space behind him.  So parking behind him, put the car into the scary, ticket-causing red zone.  I tried hard to make it work without hitting the guy’s butt that was poking out of his trunk.  (In case this hard to understand, I’ve illustrated it below).

I parked, got out, saw that I was still in the red, and saw the huge space in front of him.  If he moved up just a little, I could have fit perfectly.  He was right there, and I said nothing.  I cursed him under my breath as he walked to his house.  I stood there, wondering what I could, and why I didn’t say anything.  There were no other parking spaces that I could see.  How could I make this work?  That idiot!Then as luck would have it, he walked back out and toward his car, and I had another chance at this.  I politely asked if he minded moving his car up a little.  He looked a little grumpy about it, but he did it, and my car fit.  Instead of cursing him under my breath, I thanked him out loud, and all was well.