My experience with my happiness project in February was a bit different than in January. In January, three out of my four goals were pretty straightforward and easy to track. Either I tracked my food or I didn't, for example. In February, however, three out of my four goals were more difficult to track, since they were multi-shaded, that is, not just black and white.
To recap, here were my four resolutions for February:
1. Have weekly date nights.
2. Acknowledge the feelings of others and take responsibility for my own actions.
3. Don't keep score.
4. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
For the most part, it was easy to track whether or not Jesse and I had a date night each week. For me, a date night is an evening in which we spend several hours being together. Most nights we watch TV together, but we also spend that time multitasking. I don't consider multitasking to be a part of date night. Instead, a date night is when we concentrate on one activity at a time and we do it together. Some nights were clearer than others that we were having a date night, but I checked off seven times that we had a date night in February. Not too shabby.
Since I wrote my second goal as "Responsibility" in my goal chart, I quickly forgot about the first half of the resolution. So... I was basically just tracking whether or not I took responsibility for my actions, and this soon became about arguments. Did I try to place the blame on the other person? There were six times in the month of February where I caught myself not taking responsibility, but this resolution helped remind me that there are two sides to every coin... and next month I will remember that there are two sides to this goal.
The third goal, don't keep score, also became, in part, about arguments. Also, chores. Was I holding expectations about who should be doing what? Again, I caught myself doing this about six times in February, but the goal helped me become more aware of the issue.
Finally, I resolved to stay positive and not to let the perfect become the enemy of the good. This is sometimes really tough for me when my expectations don't match up with reality. This often happens in running and sometimes in relationships with others. However, I only caught myself being negative three times in February, so this wasn't as big of an issue as I thought! In other words, I was pessimistic about being pessimistic. Bah dum tss!
I also wanted to continue my resolutions from January this month. Some of my goals from January stayed strong throughout February, such as the goal to get enough (but not too much!) sleep (22/28 days) and acting energetic (23/28 days). However, I stopped tracking my food about halfway through the month (9/28) and I have not been drinking enough water (5/28... ouch). Time to get back on those goals!
And my average happiness score for February was... Drum roll, please...! 6.9. Definitely better than last month. Perhaps I am becoming more happy...! Either way, these resolutions are helping me become more aware of and more realistic about my actions.
Alright, stick around for the second half of this post about my March resolutions!
Until then,
Amy
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