The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

I have been meaning to read this book for months now, ever since I gave it to my friend as a Christmas gift. I am so glad I finally got around to it. In this day and age when everyone is so busy and always has somewhere to be, it’s refreshing to read a book that makes you evaluate your life and take a moment to think if you really are happy.

“Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. “The days are long, but they years are short,” she realized. “Time is passing and I’m not focusing enough on the things that really matter.” In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.”

So she set out with specific goals and resolutions to focus on each month. Here are a few examples: go to sleep earlier, exercise better, act more energetic, take time to be silly, use good manners, start a collection, forget about results, master a new technology. So each chapter is a month of the year and she evaluates how she does at the end of every month. What I love about the idea of breaking down goals into months is that it is more manageable that way and you are not doing too much at one time.

It is a very easy, fun read and she is very relatable. This book is definitely inspiring and makes me want to start my own happiness project and focus on what makes me happy. I also really liked that she mentions that you don’t have to take drastic measures and uproot your life to find happiness but that you can concentrate on what you do have and just be more grateful and in the moment. It’s a great experiment and I would recommend this book for sure.

She also started a blog to go along with her book, which you can visit at www.happiness-project.com. In addition to this book she has since written a second book on happiness entitled Happier at Home which I will definitely be reading at some point.