2019 Happiness Project—A July Change

In addition to and as part of my 19 for 2019, I’ve decided to tackle a Happiness Project. I first read Gretchen Rubin’s book in 2014 and became enamored of the idea. However, my desire to do things perfectly kept getting in the way. I felt like I needed to have lists and charts and plans. While all of those things are helpful, sometimes it’s better to just get started.

And so, with only a vague notion of what I’m going to do, I decided that 2019 is the year of my Happiness Project. I’m going to have the same monthly focuses Gretchen had in her book, but will modify the individual tasks to fit what’s needed in my life.

July: Buy Some Happiness

Gretchen’s tasks for July were:

• Indulge in a modest splurge
• Buy needful things
• Spend out
• Give something up

So I spent some time reflecting the theme while purchasing our new bedroom furniture. I considered it as I bought a new pair of black pants to replace the pair I wore until they literally started falling apart. I thought about it as I gave our mechanic the ok to replace my tires, three of which were bald and one of which was punctured by a rock last week.

And then I decided I am officially taking a break this month. I’m not abandoning the Project at all; in fact, I’m excited about a few of the months ahead. But I have splurged and bought needful things and spent out. And as an underbuyer, I don’t feel there’s much I need to give up (though to be clear, I’m trying reeeeeeally hard to spend nothing for the next few weeks to balance out all the purchases we’ve had this month).

All of this is to say that I’m skipping July. I am generally happy with my relationship to money and spending, and also, I just want to take a short break from writing about the Happiness Project. I’ll be back with more HP in August!