A few weeks ago I started the #100happydays challenge on instagram. While I liked the whole premise behind this challenge I was mainly thinking that it would simply be fun to post a daily picture. So on day one I posted my first picture, but didn’t really put much thought into. The first week went by pretty much the same way, I posted a picture each day and didn’t give it a second thought.

As time went on I will admit that I started to notice a few things:

• I would take time to notice what made me happy each day
• I found that lately I have been in a much better mood and caught myself smiling more
• I started to realize on a more regular basis how truly lucky I am and even on my worst day there is always someone who is worse off than I am

In general I started to realize that in order to be happy I have to create happiness for myself. Yes, I am going to have completely crappy days where I feel like crawling back under the covers, but it is much better to look on the bright side instead of wallowing in the bad. It’s like my eyes were finally open and I was seeing things that I was too busy to notice before.

Was I really so busy and caught up in my day that I couldn’t take 5 minutes for myself?

Instead of being to caught up in my own thoughts and blocking out the rest of the world I was noticing small followers on that were starting to bloom. I was watching sunsets and would take time to lay down and look at the stars. I was slowing down and making sure that I was enjoying life.

Currently I have a little over a month left and I plan on sticking in it to the very end. Who knows? I may decide to keep going and just take the time each day to identify something that made me happy.

Are you up for the challenge?