Hiking in the Taos Ski Valley

One hundred days ago, I accepted a challenge from a friend that 71% of all people who start don’t complete. It was simple: to take time every day for 100 days to pause to focus on a happy moment and post a picture about it. In fact, everyone who accepted this challenge with me stopped. Apparently, the main reason that people cite is lack of time.

I get it. Life is crazy. Things get busy and we can forget to pause each day to focus on those moments. But, I don’t want my life to ever be so busy that I can’t stop for at least a few minutes every day to be thankful for the blessings in my life. What kind of life is that if I can’t even stop, even briefly just to be aware of the fact that something or someone is bring me joy? Here’s what I learned from that past 100 days.

My dad was in cancer treatment but we were told it’s in remission. Yay!

Even when I’m having a bad day, family crisis, health scare, etc. there’s always something every single day that makes me laugh or smile. Maybe it’s a song on the radio. Maybe it’s a goofy thought in my head (I tend to entertain myself a lot). It’s often my children or my husband that brings me joy.

One thing that I liked the most about the 100 Happy Days challenge is that most of my friends and family knew I was doing it because I posted the pics to Facebook every day. That made it easy to tell them how much they mean to me. When I had plans to see a friend, I wouldn’t post my happy picture about anything else that day. I would wait and ask to snap a pic with them. It was an excuse to tell them, “Seeing you is my happy thing for today. Let’s take a pic!” It isn’t always simple just to blurt out to your friends and family that they brighten your day and make you happy but this gave me a good reason to tell them exactly how I feel about them.

My three favorite people, my husband, Justin, and sons Griffin and Kyle.

Now that my 100 days challenge has come to a close, I’m glad that I completed it. It was nice to focus on what makes me happy every day. It was especially fun on the days when there were so many happy moments to choose from! I don’t plan to stop focusing on those joyful times. When I find myself smiling or feeling that warm sense of contentment, I will continue to send that silent prayer to the man upstairs, “Thank you for these happy days.” Never take anything for granted. Cherish every moment. Be thankful for every day.  I’ve learned to do just that and I hope you can, too. Even if you aren’t posting about it, I hope you’re at least pausing to relish the moment.