Do Things That Make You Happy

So I'm sick of being a sad sack. So some crap is happening in my life, it isn't the end of the world. And I'm far from alone, everyone has something that's less than perfect going on. What I try to remember is, and this is important: things could always be worse. Keeping that fact in mind I've decided to take advantage of the situation and do things that make me happy.

About a month ago I started this process by dying my hair red, Ariel red not natural red. I've come to the conclusion that right now during my unemployment and before I get to an age where such a thing usually looks ridiculous I was going to dye it. Why? Because I've always wanted to. I tip toed around it in college by dying my hair red without bleaching it first because I was afraid of the bleach. It got a nice highlight that way but didn't achieve the shade I really wanted. This time I went all the way, bleach, Manic Panic, the whole 9 yards.

Which leads me back to my first thought: Do things that make you happy
 
And I mean really happy. It seems like a basic enough concept but every few years I find that I need to remind myself of it. Ask yourself "Am I hurting anyone by doing this?" if the answer is no then continue to the next step and do it already! I know it isn't always so simple, sometimes there's hangups or restrictions in the way, or maybe motivation is a problem. I have a lot of experience with that. As I type this I'm procrastinating on exercising, which I know in the long run will make me happy, but I'm still sorting out my motivation issues (AKA: I'm lazy). But I will do it because I'm making it a priority.

Make it a priority

For a long time now I've been meaning to get into better shape, as well as wear my fancy clothes more often (Gothic and Lolita styles anyone?), take more pictures, sew and make more jewelry and sell it in my Etsy shop, and go hiking/camping more often. I always used to use work as an excuse, like so many of us do. In the last 6 months I haven't been working and guess what? Still none of these things happened! Maybe a little here and there but nothing stuck, why? Because I didn't legitimately make any of these things a priority. I laid around in a depressed lump in my pj's eating junk, while looking for a job and halfheartedly doing chores. It's not all happening over night either, I'm no Wonder Woman and I wont even pretend that I am. Small steps are what's moving things from the "Stuff I've been meaning to do" to "Stuff that I'm working on" because now it's a priority, and even getting your shit together enough to make something a legit priority is a step in the right direction.

Small steps are okay

Mid November I dyed my hair, 3 weeks ago I cleaned my room, 2 weeks ago I waxed my eyebrows, last week I started tweaking my diet to include more fruit and vegetables and less processed junk, I also started researching diet and exercise plans that can help (NerdFitness is really awesome btw). No not all of these are items directly on my list, some things are just precursors. Lets face it, pretty makeup and clothes don't look so great when your eyebrows are a hot mess. Basically I'd like to invite anyone interested in joining me on a life improving mission, lets do this crazy thing already!