If you would have asked me what I wanted out of life when I was a teenager, I probably would have said something like “I don’t know. I just want to be happy.”
I am sure that idea seemed like the simplest thing in the world to me. And easily achievable. But the truth is that is just not the case.
Now that I am older, that is a concept that I can totally attest to. The past few years have been an emotional roller coaster. My happiness has always depended greatly on some aspect of life such as hearing or not hearing back from a job that I thought I would have been perfect for. Feeling out of place because I was unemployed and people I graduated with seemed to be enjoying life much more than I was. It’s still something I have difficulty with, but I would say that I am happier now than I was in 2009. Could I be happier? Absolutely!
The idea of being happier is something that Gretchen Rubin, the author of “The Happiness Project” also was interested in. While she was on a New York City bus, she realized that “the days are long, but the years are short.” So she spent the year focusing on 12 areas in her life that she wanted to improve such as health, parenting, marriage and spirituality. Armed with a resolutions chart and 12 personal commandments, Rubin worked towards making herself happy. I repeat “making herself happy.”
It didn’t matter what obstacle Rubin faced, she always referred to her commandments to change the way she experienced life. I thought about that a lot this weekend when I decided to let go of a grudge that I had been holding on for far too long. I repeated “act the way I want to feel” from Rubin’s list on the car ride over and it worked. I let it go and felt better because I did so I knew I had to add it to my own list. Want to know what else I included in my personal commandments?
Yaszy’s Twelve Personal Commandments
1. Be Yaszy
2. Let Go
3. Prepare for the best, not the worst
4. Above all else, focus on the vision
5. Give more
6. Cheer Up
7. Keep an open mind and heart
8. Just do it
9. Act the way I want to feel
10. The nice way isn’t always the right way
11. Let your light shine bright
12. Live intentionally
