I'm reading a book called The Happiness Project at the moment. It chronicals the year Gretchen Rubin dedicated to being happy. Highly highly recommended.
I mention it because a section I was reading this morning affected me profoundly. It's entitled "Be Gretchen" and talks about realising what it is you love and spending time on that. Essentially being yourself - sounds simple right? But what got me was the discussion around identifying the things we all feel we should love, or really wish we loved (for whatever reason), but for some reason we don't. Once you figure out what those things are, let them go. Stop trying to make yourself love/like/do things that you just don't like. You can't change the things you like - you just do. When I was reading this I realised that there are probably a few things in my life that I do because they are considered fun/important/aspirational by other people and really they don't make me all that happy. In fact, I'm probably less happy when I do them because I'm frustrated that I don't like them as much as I feel I should.
I think for me this covers a few different angles:
I mention it because a section I was reading this morning affected me profoundly. It's entitled "Be Gretchen" and talks about realising what it is you love and spending time on that. Essentially being yourself - sounds simple right? But what got me was the discussion around identifying the things we all feel we should love, or really wish we loved (for whatever reason), but for some reason we don't. Once you figure out what those things are, let them go. Stop trying to make yourself love/like/do things that you just don't like. You can't change the things you like - you just do. When I was reading this I realised that there are probably a few things in my life that I do because they are considered fun/important/aspirational by other people and really they don't make me all that happy. In fact, I'm probably less happy when I do them because I'm frustrated that I don't like them as much as I feel I should.
I think for me this covers a few different angles:
- The things I feel like I should do/like - from books/movies to career choices
- The things I do like, but feel I shouldn't (guilty secrets) - like Twilight and Harry Potter novels
So now I'm going to try to work out what these are and try to just let them go... essentially, "Be Rebecca"
Sounds simple right? We'll see...
| The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin |
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