I’m making the same resolution as I did last year- I choose happy. My resolution last year was to be happy. Not to find “happiness”. Not to make others happy but to be simply happy myself.
I think happiness is a choice. I chose happy this year and honestly it was a really happy year.
I chose happiness this year in a year that could have been stressful and just plain suckie!
I chose happiness despite starting the year really overweight, our renovation had hit a major snag and money as usual was tight.
Now was it as easy as just declaring “I’m happy”?

No.

I looked at my life and I tried to identify some of the “happiness stealers” in my life (maybe some are the same as in your life)

Tracey’s Happiness Stealers:
1. My Body– now do I think all overweight people are unhappy? No- but I was. I really felt that my outside didn’t match how I felt inside. I felt so full of life inside but my body couldn’t deliver on that feeling. My body didn’t fit the clothes I wanted to wear, didn’t have the energy to physically do all the things I wanted to do and my body lacked confidence which held me back in so many areas of my life.
When I started to “try to lose weight”, my goal was not to lose weight-my goal was about the process– to eat totally “clean” and only food from the meal plan from my nutritionist until my birthday. Of course that process resulted in lots of weight loss. So I set a new focus- I started working out like crazy- focusing on trying to do every exercise class I could over the summer. My next focus was a no drinking challenge for the first 7 weeks of September. All these goals had nothing to do with the scale but has kept my body in a happy zone. Trust the process and results will happen.

2. Dream Stealers– you know those people who steal your dreams and make you feel like you are going to fail again. Or those people who you feel “less” when you are around them? I almost said people who make you feel bad about yourself but I don’t think the people of my life were consciously trying to make me feel anything but I was feeling hurt around them. I had lots of people trying to pick away at my happiness- probably not on purpose- maybe they let their own insecurities say things like-” you work out too much- you’re away from your kids too much”; or “you only like the class because of the instructor not because you like working out”; “you aren’t going to eat like that for the rest of your life are you?”…. All these little throw away comments that people say that make you doubt your process. The first thing I did was I “unfollowed” a bunch of people on Facebook (yep- there’s my dirty little secret). We remained “friends” but I stopped getting pictures of all those events I wasn’t invited too on my newsfeed anymore, I stopped getting all their negative status updates- ignorance is bliss 🙂 I did keep people who posted about working out, feeling happy and of course people who posted cute pictures of their puppies lol!  I stopped making time for the dream stealers in real life too.  The next part of the plan was to surround myself with awesome people who were happy and wanted the best for me. Then the universe gave me new friends in my life- I have been so lucky to meet and become friends with some really great people this year.

3. Living in the Future. I am a planner- sometimes over planning and focusing on the future makes me forget to enjoy what I have now. I know my house will be awesome when it’s done- but you know what- it’s pretty awesome now. Subfloor, unfinished bathrooms and all. We had a friend and her son over for homemade pizza this summer- our table was still in storage but we had the best time standing around the kitchen island eating pizza. We even had a dinner party this week and it was so much fun. We didn’t need a perfect house to have a perfect evening. 🙂 Enjoy what you have NOW.

So as I close out this year, I am happy. I squished A LOT of living into this year. I am grateful for my super supportive husband Matt who has been my biggest cheerleader; my kids who are growing up into really cool people; Sarah (my trainer) who gave me the tools to start the change in my life; my friends who hangout with me even though I don’t have wine or chips in my house anymore! I am thankful for you people who read my blog! I have felt such amazing love and support from you.

Now if you are making a resolution to change your life this year I offer you this picture. I’m a little uncomfortable sharing it- I’m not doing it to brag- only as a picture of hope. I am trying to give you hope- you saw the picture of how I started the year. Here is how I finish it- a picture from my last workout of 2014! I am proud of this picture and I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone to have it taken. If I can do it, you can do it too 🙂

If you are planning on bringing in the New Year with some beverages here is a perfect recipe to sop up the alcohol in your system New Years Day! Lol! Homemade Naan Bread! I will never buy naan at the store again. This recipe is super easy and pairs well with the Butter Chicken recipe I shared before:

All you need to make the Naan Bread is: