Being Happier: Part 1

When I walked into Half Price Books a few weeks ago, I had no idea what kind of book I wanted to read for this project. With my mind still racing through my options, only six dollars in my pocket, and my mom waiting in the car, I did what any person in my situation would do: I judged the books by their covers. I ended up choosing a bright yellow book with a sale sticker on the front called The Happiness Project.

The book is essentially about a woman (Gretchen Rubin) who dedicates a year of her life to being happier. Well, my first thoughts upon reading the beginning of the book were that I didn't have a year for this project and I already considered myself to be a fairly happy person. But, as Rubin says, you can have everything you could possibly want—yet still fail to appreciate and enjoy it to the fullest (Rubin 2). I may be happy, but I could be happier. As for the time crunch, I decided I would just have to make the most out of what little time I had.

This is my closet after cleaning!

One of Rubin's first steps to becoming happier was to get rid of clutter and reorganize her apartment. I decided to apply her advice to my own life and tackle the dreaded task of cleaning, as Rubin called it, "the festering heart of all household clutter: my closet" (Rubin 28). I followed Rubin's lead and first got rid of clothes that "no one should be wearing anymore" (Rubin 29). This included socks with too many holes to count and a sweatshirt with an irreversible bleach stain on the front. Then, I got rid of clothes that "realistically, I knew I wouldn't wear" (Rubin 29). I tossed a nice (but incredibly itchy) sweater and a pair of loudly-patterned pants into my giveaway pile. Finally, I "forced myself to take the time to make each item work, and if I couldn't, out it went" (Rubin 30). This involved looking at each piece of clothing I owned and deciding if I would actually wear it on a regular basis. If I couldn't find any shoes to wear with a particular pair of pants, I got rid of them.

Once I was done, I took a step back to admire my results. My closet was visibly much lighter and more organized and I felt lighter, too. I wouldn't be nagged by my parents about how messy my closet was anymore. I wouldn't have to dig through piles of useless clothes to find that one pair of jeans in the morning. The weight that this lifted off of my shoulders was incredible. I felt happier already.

How happy do you think you are? Do you feel that physical clutter could be weighing you down?

Citation:
Rubin, Gretchen. The Happiness Project. New York: Harper Collins, 2010. Print.