choose to be happy

It's half past five in the morning and I'm back in my office.

I was here yesterday too for Valentine's Day - the process of shredding 10 boxes of unnecessary archived-documents was very fulfilling... just 4 more to go.

I've just noticed that Lent began on February 10th. I'm not Catholic, but thought it'd be a good exercise for me to give up something for this season. This year, I've chosen social media. No more Instagram, no more Facebook... I think I just might reclaim my life back, sleep better, and find a lot more time to do much more important and impactful things.

Choosing to be happy is not a new concept to me. The whole thing about having an internal locus of control... I know it. Just as most things in life result from the choices we make; being, or getting to a state of being happy is a choice. It just starts by saying "I want to be happy" and choosing to get there, no matter what. And it's not like I don't know how to get there - because I do. And even that's my perceived "ideal" state to be happy - it's not like I can't be happy now where I am as well.

But just for the heck of it, and for the sake of a little of a mind-dump, here are my ideals to get there:

Steps to my happy-happy state

1. Sleep by 10pm and get a solid 8 hours of sleep a night
2. Don't eat after 5pm - I sleep a lot better and feel a lot better in the morning when I do this
3. Exercise everyday for at least half an hour
4. Run at least 5 km a week (for a start)
5. Eat right - no more crappy stuff. The crappy stuff is bad for my physical health, and the guilt just gives me anxiety - which sucks.
6. Read - the Bible, and whatever heck else I've been wanting to read
7. Go to church - I've been really antisocial for a couple of years now
8. Pray. I need to accept that I really can't do everything by my own strength
9. Be disciplined with work and non-work hours
10. Make time for activities that I enjoy - language, fencing, organizing, animals, volunteering... Do I really enjoy volunteering? 
11. Konmari life and Get minimal. Throw out all the stuff that doesn't bring me joy. Get on top of life's administrative needs, finances, and the like.

That should do it.
Maybe I'll get there in 6 months, maybe a year, maybe much sooner than I think.
Whatever it is, I need to make a decision that I'm going to be happy, healthy, and successful.

I've missed 5 days, but here's to the rest of the 35 days of Lent left... and here's to deciding to get happy. I might not be able to drop everything and do it all at once, but one step forward is still progress.