Come On, Get Happy!

When my cousin and I were young teenagers, we used to babysit our baby cousin on New Year's Eve. We used to watch MTV special and eat junk food util early morning. After midnight, we used to write our resolutions on toilet paper and then flush them down the toilet. I don't remember why we chose to flush them, but it was rather fitting since I can't think of one resolution that I have ever kept for more than a month, if even that. They all ended up in the toilet. I gave up making resolutions years and years ago. Instead of making resoutions I decided to make commitments to make my life happier, however or whatever that would be.

I am a firm believer that only you can change your life and make it what you want it. You choose how you respond to each challenge. I have made major changes in my life in order to create happiness in my life and my families.

When asked how I plan to create happiness for myself in 2012, I was unsure of how to answer. 2011 was a great year for me and my family. We flipped our lives upside down and inside out, moving cross country, back to our home state. Life has treated us well, even though we have had the downs as well. I was slightly sad to see the end of this year, because it was such a happy one, but I am greeting the new year with enthusiasm.

As the New Year is underway, a new semester is beginning tomorrow, and my son's 3rd birthday is looming on the horizon. It's going to be a busy one, without a doubt. There are new opportunities emerging and new challenges to tackle. So to answer the question about creating happiness in the new year, well...I'm going to greet each day with a smile, no matter what. I am going to commit to taking each day, one at a time, and live it to the fullest, setting aside time each day for myself to reflect and to decompress. I tend to stretch myself thin, so taking a step back each day to do something for myself, be it just 15 minutes.

What about you? What are you doing to create happiness in 2012 for yourself? Share your answer in a comment on the Life Well Lived post over at BlogHer.com and enter the KINDLE FIRE sweepstakes as well (A new Kindle Fire sure would help me with the me time, maybe too much. I distract easily!).