It’s May, which means I continue on my happiness quest one month wiser (or whatever); here are the three takeaways I have from last month.
- Don’t diss the incremental. Progress is progress. Even though I only made progress on two of my five critical success factors (CSFs) 20% of the days last month, the progress was still there and I officially moved out of the mode of “thinking about” into “doing” on all of them. That felt pretty good. (Patting self on broken back.)
- Don’t overextend. By the same token, however, I feel like I overdid it in April. Since my factors compound over time (i.e. now that I have my vintage shop set up, it’s going to continue and isn’t “complete”) I need to make sure not to get too much on my plate. Therefore, I cut down this month’s originally-envisioned five items to only two.
- Do celebrate. I really did aim higher last month. I produced more at work, at home and on my side projects. I am tired, but it’s the kind of tired that comes from doing things I care about, so it doesn’t bother me so far.
Which brings me to…
MAY’S RESOLUTION: creating and enjoying happy family memories
In order to meet my resolution this month, I’ve determined that I will:
- Create fun family experiences
- Share with others
This month is already off to a great start on both CSFs.
- Saturday we all went to an authentic Irish restaurant, which was a great family experience. We all tried new things and decided we love soda bread and strawberry butter. We also went on an excursion to a park we hadn’t been to before, and it had a beautiful grotto with an small but beautiful waterfall. The perfect day.
- On Sunday, I bought plane tickets to take Benjamin to visit my Dad. We haven’t seen him in quite some time (several years) and I want Benjamin to get to know him better.
- Monday I was home sick from work so I was very tired but we all watched a half hour IMAX film on beavers that was actually highly entertaining (despite me shrieking in my head, no no no! when the guys selected it). So we still made it seem like a special evening and will have something fun to talk about for the next few days.
- Yesterday Benjamin was home sick so even thought we kept it low-key, we made sure to watch a movie that we had picked up at a yard sale months ago and never watched (Flushed Away). Benjamin loved it, so I’m sure he’ll remember that for at least the next few weeks. We also sang and acted silly with musical instruments. I don’t know if he’ll remember that, but I like to think I will. Particularly when he’s a rock star.
What are you doing this month with your family to create memories? I love new ideas!
Fondly,
Freckles
