Inspired & Happy

Ah, Wednesday! We made it to Wednesday. After Tuesday turned out to be such a lovely surprise of a day, I went into Wednesday with equally high expectations.

Kelly over at Fab K Creative (also the designer of my lovely blog design) had this posted on her blog today. How true is that statement?! One of my BIGGEST struggles in life is finding my work/life balance. Some days I can't even imagine adding kids and a husband to the mix! If I'm away from work enjoying myself... I feel like I'm not working hard enough. And if I'm working too hard, I lose all sense of me. 

Can I get an AMEN?

Upon seeing this poster, I found myself thinking of all of the things I do outside of work that inspire my work: blogging, running, quiet prayerful time. Things it's perfectly OK to make time for.

I also thought about the things that rejuvenate me, and therefore inspire my work: time with family, drinks with girlfriends, travel.

And when I stumbled across this article- 12 Things Happy People Do Differently- it all just jelled and jived together into one cohesive thought:

In order to be happy and do my best work, I have to live life to the fullest.

Take that ah-ha moment, Oprah!

A lot of the things in the article, I do regularly- or try to do. Practice spirituality, take care of your body, express gratitude. But a few stood out to me, things I could probably work on to improve my overall "happiness" (of course, I believe true happiness comes from a spiritual foundation- but certainly "committing to our goals" and "savoring life's joys" help!)

One point- cultivate optimism- I would especially like to work on. I tend to let things snowball- a rainy day puts me in traffic, keeps me from Starbucks, makes my hair frizzy, makes me feel uncomfortable in a meeting, makes me feel like I'm not doing a good job, leads to a crying breakdown in the car on the way home from work, leads to a minor life crisis. (Oh, come on. You do it too.) 

There are moments in the day we can stop and turn it all around. Tackle a problem with optimism and see where it takes us. 

Hand in hand with cultivate optimism.... develop strategies for coping.  I've learned this first and foremost- and continue to learn it, honestly- through my job as a producer. I plan a show for days, weeks even- and in 30 seconds, it can all fall apart. A live shot doesn't go as planned; the video won't play when cued; a mic battery dies. Instead of throwing myself onto the ground (I'm not exaggerating here, either)- I have my coping strategies.

Take a deep breath.

The show must go on.

Eat a handful of M&M's.

Often times, I find myself apologizing after a show for snapping at someone trying to be helpful. Not a good coping strategy.  Note to self: keep mouth shut with M&M's.

All this to say, I'm inspired today. I'm inspired to live life outside of work to inspire my work; and I'm motivated to make simple daily improvements to my life to get more "happy" out of it.

What inspires you? What could you work on to add more "happy" to your day?

If your answer is M&M's... you'll find no judgement here.