I’m friends with a girl on facebook who is constantly posting about how “perfect” her life is. Her status will read, “I have the perfect husband, perfect job, perfect life!” or “I’m so happy!” or My life couldn’t be more perfect right now!” etc… (excuse me while I puke…)

Well, we all know her life isn’t perfect. Duh – nobody’s life is perfect. But on the other hand, I can’t stand people on facebook who are constantly complaining and talking about how terrible their lives are.

So where’s the happy middle?

I worry about being too honest on this blog. I don’t know who’s really reading it – and I don’t want to whine and complain all the time or hang all my dirty laundry out for everyone to see. But I don’t want to be “that girl” with the “perfect life” either…I don’t want to be fake.

Well here’s some honesty for ya – this stage of my life is difficult. But I guess I just feel guilty talking about how hard my life is when everything really is going perfectly…at least on the outside. I have a wonderful husband, a great family, kind friends, a good paying job, a kind boss, my health, a nice house, a new car…what else could a girl want?

But the truth is…I’m really not happy right now. My weekends are fun and distracting, but the work weeks are rough. I have a hard time staying positive…looking forward…trying to remember that my life won’t always be like this.

Last week was baaaaad. I was grumpy, depressed, glum, sad – just very blah. I cried, I drank a bottle of wine…or two…I made life miserable for my hubby (sorry Josh!). I basically fell into the “funk” that I was in before I was laid off. Back when I really hated my job. I was miserable. And I really didn’t want to be like that again. I knew something had to change.

So I did what I do best – I made a plan. So here is my “5 Step Plan to Happiness.”

1. Pretend I’m happy. (Don’t act depressed/sad/grumpy. Just act like you are happy. Tell yourself you’re happy. Fake it!)
2. Don’t worry so much. (This one is hard. But lately I’ve been worrying TOO MUCH about work. One day last week I got so worked up, I spent 15 minutes in the bathroom willing myself not to cry and trying to pull myself together. And it’s just not worth it. Plus I was perfectly fine later that day. So there was no reason to get that upset in the first place. Don’t worry – be happy!)
3. Do fun stuff. (Of course I’m going to be all “blah” if I leave work everyday and go home and watch tv all night. I need to plan stuff to do. Go to dinner with friends. Get my lazy butt to the gym, go have dinner at my parents. And eventually my husband will quit working 70+ hour weeks and will be home to hang out with me.)
4. Look ahead. (This is just my life now. It won’t always be like this. I’m young and I’m going to go through many stages of life. This stage may not be exciting or fun, but it doesn’t have to be like this forever. I’m not going to do anything drastic right now, but if things don’t start looking up, maybe it’s time to make a change. And I need to remember it’s ok to change. I’m allowed to change things. I’m allowed to do something different. Find something that does make me happy. And I’m very blessed that I’m free and able to make a change in my life. Which leads me to number 5…)
5. Pray. (God is great! And I understand now that it isn’t his job to make sure I’m happy all the time. You gotta take the good and the bad in life. You know the saying – “It’s the bad things in life that make us appreciate the good things.” So I need to remember that even though this stage of my life isn’t great, it has a purpose. Maybe God wants me to learn how to be happy even when my life isn’t making me happy. But I know he has great things in store for me later on. I just need to be patient…and follow my 5 Step Plan. 🙂 )

-Holly

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