Does a formula for happiness even exist? A true, if-you-do-this, you’ll be happy, no matter what?
I think it does. I also believe the formula for happiness is extremely personal. Things that make me happy may not be the same things that make you happy.
My personal happiness revolves around my family. My goal in my life is to keep my family happy and healthy.
I know there are so many things we can’t control in this world. Sometimes we’ll be heartbroken, we’ll lose friendships, loved ones, careers. We can’t control how people will treat our husbands, our kids, or us.
It can be overwhelming to think about all things we can’t control. What I’m doing now is thinking about all of the things I can control.
Taking care of myself
Taking care of myself seems so easy right? But oftentimes I put my needs and goals aside because I feel like I need to take care of my family first. All this does is put my goals on the backburner, I get burned out and overwhelmed and this affects my family.
For example, when I don’t take the time to exercise and eat healthy, I gain weight. Go figure, right? When I gain weight I hate going out. Nothing fits right, I don’t feel confident. If I don’t want to go out I miss things with my kids and husband. Football games, community activities and date nights. Not taking the time to exercise and eat healthy makes me feel terrible.
If I feel terrible, how can I be the best mother and wife?
I can’t.
So taking the time to focus on me ultimately benefits my family. I’m taking the time to read, to spend time with friends and to work at what I love doing without feeling guilty.
Doing things that make me happy, keeps me a happy mom and wife.
Focusing on my family
This may seem easy, right? I mean as moms we’re always there. Cooking, cleaning, helping with homework, kissing sleepy heads and chasing away monsters.
My focus (before) had been on getting the family duties done: the cooking, meal-planning, bill-paying, cleaning, carting back and forth from practices and games, the never-ending-laundry (I know you know what I’m talking about!).
But that’s not all my family needs from me.
They need the happy moments. The mom that’s not totally stressed out. They need me to focus on what makes them happy!
For my kids it’s easy. I listen to what they say. I laugh at the silly jokes and I ask questions about their day. I am in the moment with them, laughing and carefree. Just loving them.
Even if by nature I am a homebody, I take them out and let them explore. I’ve left behind work, laundry and a sink full of dirty dishes to get them out of the house and happy!
My husband is my #1 motivator and all he asks of me is for time. We don’t get a lot of date nights these days (we have 5 kiddos right now) but we try to make use of any time together! We meet for lunch at least once a week. I also have one important rule, I go to bed at the same time as him. I used work in the evening and not be in bed until close to midnight, long after he’d already fallen asleep.
I also have one important rule, I go to bed at the same time as him. I used to work in the evening and not be in bed until close to midnight, long after he’d already fallen asleep. This didn’t work because we felt so disconnected from each other. Now, I wrap up my work and we’re able to wind down together.
Talking about happiness….
I was looking through old family pictures. I found this one of my son, the very first picture of him.
This picture brought back so many memories. The best one was the extreme and overwhelming joy I had the first time I saw his face. I didn’t use Gerber formula when Dominic was a baby. Looking back I wish had.
Did you know Stage 1 Gerber® Good Start® Infant Formula is gentle on a baby’s tummy? I had so many sleepless nights because Dominic couldn’t tolerate his formula, we kept trying new ones and as a brand new mom that was hard. The gentle proteins in Gerber Good Start are modeled after the proteins found in breast milk. I think the best part of this formula is that it’s not made with genetically engineered ingredients. That’s right, it’s Non-GMO!
Our baby days are over (I think) but, I have a beautiful niece who is the happiest baby ever and I buy her Gerber Good Start. Because it’s designed to provide complete nutrition during each stage of development, I know we can count on Gerber Good Start Infant Formula as Baby Penny grows.
You can find Gerber® Good Start® Infant Formula at Target in the baby formula aisle. 
Don’t forget to grab a $6 off coupon from Coupons.com
Do you get the Resource Page?
Each week I'll send you the latest Resource Page. In it, you'll find
- Handy tips for focusing on positivity throughout your week.
- Tricks for getting your kids to listen to your every word (just kidding,Girl-- I'm still working on getting my kids to listen!) But I will send you fun activity ideas for you and your kids to do together.
- Useful tools that I come across, like meal planning ideas and such!
