Creating a Happy Life

After a few suggestions, I've decided to attempt to blog.  YIKES!  To be honest, I've been hesitant to create a blog for a number of reasons.  I feel like many blogs portray a false sense of reality - a life where everything is perfect, families are always happy, houses are immaculately cleaned and organized and life is nothing but rainbows and sunshine.  I beat myself up over the lack of crafty things I get done, the lack of time I get with my son, and how disorganized and undecorated my home is.  I don't really need any help feeling inadequate.  I have to remind myself that life isn't always what seems online, a fact I've been reminded of a lot lately.  If I'm going to do this, it's going to be real!  This blog won't portray that "blog-perfect" life, simply put because my life isn't "blog-perfect".  I'm just a normal, working mother that struggles every day to make ends meet, keep up with my house, and provide a happy home for my family. My marriage isn't perfect, my house is a mess, and I go to therapy every week.  Am I prepared to really air my dirty laundry?  We'll see.  :)   But maybe if I can help inspire just one person it will be worth it. 

At the beginning of this year, my husband and I sat down and decided 2013 would be a year of self-improvement.  We wanted to become better people than we had become over the past year.  2012 had been a ROUGH one for us, throwing a lot of challenges our way and by the end of the year we were worn down, discouraged, bitter, angry, and just not happy with ourselves.  We simply did not want to live this way any longer and had to find a way out of this slump for our son's sake. 

I knew I wanted to become a better wife, mother, friend, worker, Christian ... the list goes on and on.  But that was a daunting task without any tangible goals I could reach.  So, instead we came up with 52 small things we could do each week to become better people.  52 weeks in the year - 52 small changes.  Over time, this has morphed into us taking on monthly challenges that give us a little more room for error.

This blog will track our monthly self-improvement "challenges" and other ways we strive to make our life a happy one - one that feels good on the inside, not just looks good from the outside.