mollie's book club: the happiness project by gretchen rubin

heyyyyyyyyyy! so i like to read (when i have a minute). my selection of books is all over the map. sometimes i want a good self-help book, sometimes i need to get lost in a juicy novel. today i wanted to write a little about a book i really loved.

the happiness project. by gretchen rubin.

gretchen rubin is a mother of two daughters and lives in new york city with her family. she makes good money, is educated, and lives a pretty well-off life. so the question is, why does she need to spend a year trying to be more happy? well, for me this was an easy one. anyone who is a mom to little kids might agree with me that it isn't always as perfect as instagram, blogs and the internet in general says it is. somedays the level of loneliness reaches record highs. there are times that i yearn to do the things i used to do. i don't know if these are the exact same things that the author felt but its enough reason to look into pursuing more happiness in life. 

the beginning includes her thoughts on the research she did about happiness. the happiest people on earth and what this "idea" of happiness really means. super interesting to read about and think about on your own level. she then gets into the process of how she is going to try to be happier throughout the next year of her life. each month she has an overarching theme and makes goals for that month. she is meticulous in tracking her progress and checking off tangible accomplishments. with every month that passes she adds more goals and keeps practicing the previous months theme. so by december, she will have embodied 12 big ways to be happy and changed her life in so many ways. 

for example in may, her main goal is to "be serious about play". i loved the idea behind this one. to actually make yourself sit on the ground with your kids and play more. to take a vacation and play! to plan things with friends just for fun. 

july is all about "buy some happiness". people probably have all kinds of opinions about this but in my opinion, if you have money to spend then heck yes it can buy "some" happiness. definitely not the main point of the book but it was fun to read about her letting go of all those thoughts to never spend frivolously. 

the other months were about cleanliness, health, love and so on. i don't want to tell you everything about the book. but i really enjoyed it and i'm considering reading it again. looking for a summer book? i highly recommend "the happiness project"

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if you want a copy of your own... here it is on amazon!