Guest Post: My Happily Ever After

After my post last week about happiness and dreams, I wanted to open up this little blog here for all of you to share what makes you happy in life. My first guest post comes from Lindsay from My Happily Ever After. She's here to share with you her Happy Plan, the fantastic and proactive way that she is ensuring happiness in life.

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I am so excited to be guest blogging for Joelle today!! Especially about a topic which has been on my mind a lot lately: Happiness. But first, let me introduce myself... 

I'm Lindsay from My Happily Ever After! I'm 23 years old, a newlywed (7/31/10!!), a substitute teacher and an aspiring mother. I have lots of goals and ideas floating around in my head, but such is the life of a perpetual listmaker! I want to be a mother, a teacher, a wonderful wife and an optimistic person among other things. Happiness is the key to achieving many of those dreams. It's the way I'm dealing with our TTC journey. Which is how I came up with My Happy Plan in the first place! I don't want you to think that I'm a terribly unhappy person. That isn't the case. Recently, being genuinely happy has been a challenge for me. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for 7 months, and it is wearing on me. It was even causing problems in our relationship, until I decided to do something about it. The Happy Plan was how things started to change for me, and for us.

{via We Heart It}

Each Wednesday on my blog, I give an update on how I'm following through with my Happy Plan. There are several different topics which I report on, and I'll share them with you now... **EXERCISING REGULARLY **EATING BETTER **PAMPERING MYSELF **READ MORE **GETTING DRESSED DAILY **AVOID THE NEGATIVE **HAVE SOMEONE KEEP ME FOCUSED **USE OVULATION PREDICTORS These are the things I'm doing daily, weekly, etc. to put my mind in a happier place. I recently also added "journaling" to my list, but I haven't posted that on my blog yet...shhh don't tell my followers ;) The best part is that all of these things are very simple to make happen. I feel like I have a lot of control over my own happiness, whereas before it revolved around circumstances usually beyond my control. I know now that happiness for me, must begin within. Some added bonuses to my Happy Plan include a couple of pounds lost (so far!) and vastly improved body image and self-esteem. All of those add greatly to my overall happiness. By exercising and eating more fresh and whole foods, I feel good about how I'm treating my body. And my body is responding by dropping some pounds. My goal wasn't to lose weight, but I'm not going to complain!

I'll be sharing my workout routine on my blog next week!

Pampering myself is as simple as stopping by Starbucks for a non-fat Chai before I go grocery shopping, painting my fingernails, shopping, buying myself flowers, doing a facial mask, taking a bubble bath with pretty music and a candle lit up. Easy stuff, that puts a smile on my face :)

Starbucks cake pops are a fun treat every now & then!

My reading and journaling time are definitely ME time. Reading is an escape for me, and it allows my mind to go somewhere else for awhile. Journaling is like therapy. I can get my pessimistic, negative thoughts down on paper instead of letting them spill out of my mouth and hurt the ones I love.

Currently reading this book!

Getting dressed daily has quite honestly changed my self-image. I have always been the girl who stays in sweats, yoga pants or pajamas all day long. It was a routine I got into during my college days, and unfortunately never got out of. For the past month or so I have been participating in the weekly link-up at  The Pleated Poppy for What I Wore Wednesdays. It has really motivated me to get out of elastic waist bands! Now, I put on "real" clothes every day!

look ma! no elastic!

There isn't a single step of my Happy Plan which is making me happy, it's each and every part put together. Achieving happiness doesn't happen overnight, it's a daily process that we must invest our time in. And I for one, plan on making that commitment to myself. I'm worth it, and so are you. We all deserve to lead beautiful, happy lives! Thanks so much Joelle for having me as a guest on your blog today! Hope you and all of your wonderful readers have a day that is filled with happiness :)

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Thank you so much Lindsay, for this wonderful post! I hope you all got a little inspiration to live a little happier too. 

xoxo,