A few months ago I was hanging out with a girlfriend and sharing some concerns with her. I commented that I wanted to make some changes in my life, particularly around the way I react to people and circumstances. She told me about some audiobooks she listened to that she felt helped her out. She checked the book out online via My Media Mall. She showed me how to log onto the site using my library card and pointed out that I could use the Overdrive app to listen on my phone.
The first book she suggested was available right away. It was Daring Greatly. I returned it after a few chapters because it wasn't was I was looking for, and I had a hard time getting into it. Within a few days my first hold became available. That book was
People Can't Drive You Crazy If You Don't Give Them the Keys
by Mike Bechtle. I really enjoyed that book. The main thing I got out of it is that we are all surrounded by people that drive us crazy at times, but we cannot change others. We can influence them, but the only thing we truly have control over is our reactions. I was able to give advice from the book to a friend of mine. She was a little keyed up about hosting family for Christmas. In particular, her sister drove her crazy each year and she was dreading it. I suggested she give her sister specific tasks (to help change the situation) to help with their mother with Alzheimers. My friend reported that the advice helped and they all had a nice holiday. I recommend this book for anyone that has a challenging relationship that drives them crazy. So y'all just need to check this book out for yourself!
The next audiobook to become available was
Happier at Home
by Gretchen Rubin. Do you ever read a book and feel like it has an immediate impact on your life? That is what this book was for me. The book was an account of the author's second happiness project. This project focused on her home and personal life. Have you ever heard of a happiness project? It's basically a resolution to create change in various areas of your life to boost happiness. Within a few minutes of listening to the book, I knew that I would be taking on my own happiness project for 2016. I started listening to the book right before Christmas, which was perfect timing to begin my happiness resolutions when the new year arrived. Like Gretchen Rubin, I am going to focus on a different area of my personal life each month. I have not figured out all my areas of focus yet, but I know the year will bring about a lot of change and more happiness. I am not even sure if I am going to parttake in the project all year. Gretchen did her project for 9 months.
My desire to change the way I react to situations is what led to this happiness project. I have created a goal to
react less to situations. This goal goes hand and hand with my happiness project, but it's sort of independent too. I really want to stop overreacting to negative or stressful events. Most of the time my emotions can't change what is happening, so why bother getting stressed out? I want to make sure I can handle whatever gets thrown my way without freaking out. This is a BIG challenge!
Make sure you come back next week to hear the details about my January focus. I am going to really open up and share some details about the most important aspect of my life. I'll let you know how I am affecting change through my actions.
Lately I've seen several bloggers post about their One Word for 2016. I am not sure where this originated, but as you can guess my one word is happier. What about you? Do you have a one word or resolution to be happier? What areas of your life would you like to focus on to boost your happiness?
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