Prioritize Your Happiness

My current mental health is good. Probably the best it has been in a long time. I made some big decisions for myself to prioritize my happiness and success above everything else going on. It didn’t matter if there was a pandemic, social issues, or personal issues. I bought myself a ring and I wear it daily to remind myself of the promise I made to myself to prioritize my happiness. While buying a ring might seem silly, it’s one of my best purchases that I don’t regret. 

While I do work to stay happy, there are still some things that stress me out. Taking 16 credits, helping to rebuild a state organization, dreading graduate school applications, working, and balancing time between friends and family are overwhelming with the endless weeks of midterms and busy-work for each class. 

Some of the ways I deal with stress is to take each issue and break it down into manageable chunks. 

I use online planner boards to deconstruct each assignment into bite-size pieces that are a lot easier to tackle than being an overwhelmingly large assignment. Another way I destress is I study with friends over Facetime or Zoom. It’s nice to be able to set a timer for some free talk as well as have the accountability to be productive outside of those times. While this is great for school assignments and small tasks, sometimes emotions need a break too! 

I try to do something nice for myself everyday even if it’s really small. I like to do face masks right around twice a week, or buy myself a cup of coffee on my way back from work on Fridays, or even dressing up for no reason to take a couple cute photos! Personally, I live by the quote — “Look good, feel good, do good.” I like to be happy in what I’m wearing before I work on big projects. Sometimes all I need to be successful and content at the end of the day is my favorite sweatpants, chocolate, good music! 

I’d like to challenge you. For one week, be nice to yourself (in whatever way that means) every day. Wear that outfit, take that picture, go on that walk, whatever it is. For one week, I’d love to see you prioritizing your happiness. That happiness could last one second, 5 minutes, or all day. But at the end of a long week, the satisfaction of being able to count on more than one hand all of the things you did nice for yourself, is an accomplishment you should be proud of! So I challenge YOU, be nice to yourself, I bet you could do it and have some fun with it!