Choose Happiness

I've always believed that each of us has to choose to be happy. I hear people complain over and over about the same things, the same situations or the same people but eventually we have to look at ourselves and say what can I do to change my situation? I've gotten to the place in my life that every day is miserable, I hate getting up and going to work. I hate my job. I used to love working, working is a new experience for me, I've always been a stay at home mom. A little over a year ago I decided to get a job. At first, it was great! I loved working, the extra money was nice but then I took a promotion and became a manager. Now I'm so tired, so stressed, so busy all the time. I feel like I'm missing out on my kids' lives, I can't be involved in their school like I want so I started taking a long hard look at my life. I'm in a very unique position, I don't HAVE to work, my husband pays the bills but my money goes towards all the extra things, things like a private school for our girls. Plus having the extra money has gone a long way to getting us out of debt. I've been thinking about cutting back or even quitting for a few months now and today I just did it!

I quit my job! I realized that I'm never going to have peace and joy somewhere I hate. I know how blessed and fortunate I am that I'm even able to make this choice so many families couldn't survive without the second income but our family has almost always lived on just one income so I know that we can do it again. Plus I know that I can always go back to work if I decide that's what I want to do.

But right now, today, I choose happiness! I choose to leave the worry, stress, and headache of a job I hate and go back to where I'm the happiest. At home surrounded by my kids and grandkids. It's funny when I went to work I felt so dissatisfied staying home, my kids had gotten older, they didn't seem to need me like they did when they were young. I was bored with the endless cycle of cooking dinner, sweeping floors and washing dishes, but after a year of feeling like my house is never truly clean, feeling like I never see my kids, feeling like I was constantly missing them, constantly rushed, constantly hurried, I'm excited to be able to be home, to be still, to find my peace again. Wish me luck! It's a little scary, but I feel at peace with this choice.

Goal- Live Happy

What makes me happy? Being outside on a pretty day! Being outside on a pretty day with people I love is even better! So yesterday I took a day to enjoy the outdoors with some of my favorite people. This goes along with what I wrote about last night. Having time, making memories. It's SO easy to get caught up in what needs to be done that we forget the things that last. I know I do anyway, I say I don't have time to hang out with my kids, I can't go outside today, the house is a mess! The clothes need folding! There's laundry and meals and shopping and homework! But that stuff is like a hungry monster the more you feed it the more it eats at your time. So yesterday I took the day off. Off from chores and responsibility. Hubby and I loaded up the kids and drove the hr and half to go visit our daughter and grandkids. We had a blast! We went to a wildlife nature preserve and just enjoyed being outside together. I watched them feed the ducks and fish, we took a hike and just enjoyed the day.

Call Out To The Dreamers

Hi! Welcome to my blog! You may be curious what Project 31 is all about. I'd say it's about living a dream, reaching for a certain lifestyle. It's about the life I'm trying to build for myself and the person I'm striving to become. I do look at it like a project, it's a work in progress! It's a place to record my goals- a public dream board maybe? I'm a very goal orientated person but I've always focused on outer goals and this is more about whole goals if that makes sense. It's like a map of where I am now and where I hope to go. So here they are- my goals!

1. I want to travel. Anywhere, everywhere! I want to see my state, my country, and my world! I want to take a cruise. I'd love to go on a quirky road trip! Maybe something like a road trip where I drive to weird statues like a giant ball of yarn, a huge paper airplane, rabbits the size of houses? I don't know something just fun. Or a destinationless trip, just get in the car with the kids and the dogs and some camping gear, drive until we feel like stopping. No real destination in mind!

2. I want to build real, lasting relationships with people I love. I want TIME! Time with my kids, grandkids, husband, and friends. I've learned time is the most valuable thing we have. It's literally priceless! It passes so fast and once it's gone you can't ever get it back. So I want to build a life where I have plenty of time.

3. I want true peace and well being. peace within myself. True joy and happiness. Physical, spiritual, mental well being. I want to enjoy and appreciate the little things in life. Find the things that bring me real joy and do them and learn what steals my peace and avoid those things. I want to be more mindful, more purposeful. Stronger, kinder, more forgiving, more accepting, loving.

Those are my broad goals, that's the life I want to live. I want to sit under my tree with a cup of tea and a good book and listen to the birds, watch the dogs in the yard, hear my little ones laugh. I want to marvel at nature, see countries and cultures I've never seen.


The question is how do I achieve all this? How do I live this life when I still have to live life? How do I finance this lifestyle? In part it's simple, I don't desire riches, I don't crave fame or glory. I want a simple life but isn't it surprising how MUCH a simple life costs?? There are always bills to be paid, travel costs money, kids are expensive. That's where Project 31 comes in. My plan/ experiment to live happy. I hope you will join me on this journey! I hope to meet other travelers like me, travelers through life, fellow people who are living their dreams or just starting to piece those dreams together. I'm calling out to the dreamers, the planners, the quirky, the weird, the schemers, the shy, the unsure. Let's do this together! Let's build a community where we support and encourage each other's goals and dreams. After all, I think people all basically have the same goal- to be happy.