I heard about the 100 Happy Days project from a friend on Facebook.
Let me tell you: I’m a sucker for these things. To be more specific, I’m a sucker for anything that has to do with something that I “owned” for myself. Case in point, last year, Arriane of Wanderrgirl had a blog challenge with a theme of courage, my word of the year. Of course I had to participate!
So when I heard about 100 Happy Days, I knew it was something I had to do, because of my 2014 word. Like I said, I’m a sucker for these things. I decided to start it on February 1, 2014, and as of May 11, 2014 (yesterday), I have reached my 100th happy day.
*confetti*
I know a lot of people who participated in this challenge, and I also know a lot of people who scoffed at it, made fun of it, and even really hated the entire idea. What’s the big deal, right? Why are you bragging about your happiness on social media? Are you even truly happy?
But I don’t have answers or rebuttals to that. Different strokes for different folks, as I say. (Also, walang basagan ng trip. :P) What I have, instead, are the things I learned while doing this challenge:
- You are not going to be happy everyday for 100 days. That is a fact. I don’t mean to be a downer. That’s just reality. There are good days and there are bad days, and on those bad days, you will not want to post anything at all because it’s hard to see or find something that made you happy. I had several days like that – especially early into the challenge – and I had no idea what to post.
- Honesty is really the best policy. Cliche, but I’m finding there’s so much truth in this thing. When your day didn’t go swimmingly, then admit it! No one is happy 100% of the time (see #1). But…
- Sometimes you have to seek happiness on purpose. Happy things don’t just happen all the time. Sometimes, there are days when there’s really absolutely nothing remarkable that happened. Or, like I said in #2, there are days when you feel furthest away from happy. But this project taught me to really look for something – even the littlest thing – that made my day brighter. A small treat, a song, some time with a friend – the little things really do count. Happiness will not just fall on your lap; most of the time, you have to choose it.
- Sometimes, the way to be happy is to make someone else happy. Not a secret, really, but it’s something we forget in our “quest for happiness.” Happiness happens when we share it, and I guarantee that the best way to cheer yourself up is to make someone else smile. :)
- And finally, sometimes, you just forget to take a photo. Well that happened to me many times. ^^; And you just take a photo, any photo to just to remember what happened. :D
#100happydays taught me to be mindful and grateful.
You won’t have stellar days all the time, but these not-so-stellar days always has something in it that will make you smile. And that’s what we search for – not perfect days, but small things, events, and people that make the not-so-perfect days feel all right, if not perfect in its imperfection. The trick, I think, is not to force yourself to be happy when you’re not. It’s looking at both the pluses and the minuses, and then choosing to make the former matter, but not entirely discounting the lessons that the latter wants to give.
So yeah, I did not have 100 completely happy days, but now that the challenge is over, I realize that there was so much joy in the past 100 days, and I am glad that I was somehow able to capture them. :)
And I had fun. :)
On a sidenote: on their website, they said that: People successfully completing the challenge claimed to…Fall in love during the challenge. Did I fall in love? HAHA! But yes, I fell in love with God and this life He gave me and all that. :) It’s not the romantic kind of love, but I am so not complaining. Life is good because God is good. :)
I honestly have no idea what happens next. A friend told me in his birthday message that he hopes my 100 happy days won’t end at 100. I think I will abandon the #100happydays hash tag because it has used its purpose, but I will still keep my eyes open for the happy things. There’s so much beauty and joy in everyday that it’s a shame not to take delight in it. :)
And here are some of my favorite photos in my #100happydays project! (Warning: photo dump!) :)