Rules? What rules? I don't have time for no stinkin rules!

Every day that passes "Post a blog" gets pushed lower and lower on my list of things to do. I was actually starting to feel guilty! What is that?! Here I am the master of my own universe and I'm disappointed in myself for not doing something that doesn't have a due date in the first place! That's ridiculous!

See, I had the best intentions for this blog...to post weekly starting on my birthday. But after that first week I just wasn't ready to post another soul-baring story. I guess that original goal I set keeps weighing on me, so every week I don't post something I feel like I disappointed you...or me...or God?!

But in the midst of this yucky feeling I had an epiphany! I remembered another principle of happiness that I haven't been paying enough attention to lately: Change your rules! I'm sure this has been said before (and I'm hoping I didn't just rip that off of from some t-shirt or bumper sticker company...Did I? Nope, just asked Siri. We're good.) But it's such an obvious, undeniable truth I've learned on my journey!

Hopefully I'm not the only one that has held on to some strange, strict rules for life at one time or another. Get this, I used to fold and iron clothes as soon as the dryer stopped. I would never just kick my shoes off in the middle of the room, they had a specific place in my closet. I even had a system of rotating the glasses and silverware so they'd get used evenly.  Oh, and I never used the last of anything before having the replacement in hand. I had rules for everything in my life! (You can go ahead and laugh now. I was a freak!)

When I called off my wedding a few years ago I decided that wasn't the only rule I was going to break. I was sick of these rules holding me back and only making me feel guilty when I didn't follow through with them. I wiped the slate clean that year and you wouldn't imagine the freedom that I immediately felt!

So now I spoon peanut butter right out of the jar, I take off my shoes and pants and throw them anywhere, as soon as I get home, and I never, ever, waste one second worrying about the unequal wear on my forks. Who has time for that?!


I challenge you to evaluate the rules you have on yourself and throw one right into the trash this week! Let me know what happens. (I bet you'll be just fine.) ;-)

XO ~
SKate

Countdown to My First (Official) Blog Post

I've been a late-bloomer my whole life... Last one to lose my baby teeth, last one to need a training bra, last one to get married and have kids (still waiting on that one) and last one (in the world, I believe) to start a blog! I have had one hell of a year plus I have a birthday looming...so what better time to start a blog, am I right?

Here's what: I am happy. Truly, smiling-every-day, happy. And it came to me unexpectedly this year (see where I'm going with this blog name now, don't you? You smarty-pants, you!). After almost two years of having to fake a smile and living in a cloud of sadness, I can finally say that I am happy every day. ...Not that it was easy my friend! Or that I don't have to work on it! But I want to share my journey so maybe one of you can catch this happy-bug and end up with a perma-grin too. Happy.

Flip through the news channels, check out your Facebook newsfeed and even listen to the girl in the cubicle next to you. They all seem to keep reporting horrible, unhappy shit. (I do swear occasionally....let's get past it, okay? Plus, I heard that swearing is a sign a person is honest and trustworthy. Which I am. I will always tell you the truth, friend. And I veer off topic from time to time. You should know that about me right up front too.) Anyway, I know how influential these streams of toxic messages can be in my mind, and I've found ways to combat it and find the positive voice. It's out there if you listen. Come sit with me and we'll do it together.

I'll leave you tonight with one of my favorite quotes, taken (loosely) from Candide: We live in the "best of all possible worlds" and things happen for the best of all possible reasons.


This world brought you to me and me to you.
Sounds like the best to me!

Cheers!
SKate