28 days to happiness Archives - Kim Barnes Jefferson

30 Day Spring Shape Up!

kimkb49 — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 13:00:06 +0000

The calendar may say its spring, but if you live in New England it certainly doesn’t feel like it. But like they say, if you don’t like the weather in New England just wait a minute and it will change. For the past few years, our weather has a way of skipping its way right through spring and into summer without much notice. So that’s why I think a 30 day challenge is EXACTLY what we all need to get us ready for summer. What does this mean’ Typically when you think of making a lifestyle change, you list ALL the things that you need to do and then get overwhelmed or only make a few changes because you get overwhelmed or you quit because you are striving to be perfect. The Fab Fit Squad 30 day challenge is not about being perfect, it’s about making small changes so that you can stick with them over the long haul. Just like me on Facebook and each day I will post a tip of the day, to help you keep up the challenge. The challenge starts, Friday, April 1st. Are you ready’ Leave me some comments below about what you are hoping to change in the next 30 days.

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Happiness Challenge Update

kimkb49 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:36:45 +0000

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. That was this weeks challenge. How’s it been going good. I take public transportation and often times we get packed in there like sardines. I carry a rather large gym bag and get looks for it. I usually roll my eyes when someone give me a look when they get hit with my bag, but instead I just smiled and said excuse me. Did that kill me no, did combust on the spot no. My takeaway — if you want to be a miserable shrew that your prerogative, I am not going to sink to your level. I will just kill you with kindness. As my husband always says you’ll catch my flies with honey than with vinegar.

I also found myself smiling to random people as I walked this week and in Boston, people are not use to that so I was surprised by the reactions I received. Some people smiled back and others looked at me as if I were trying to steal their first born. Again, I made lemonade.

If you put your mind to it you can really make most situations better and truly be happy. Talk to me let me know how do you make lemonade out of lemons.

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Me Time

kimkb49 — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 23:08:02 +0000

This week I challenged myself to come up with 3 things that make me happy every day. I was speaking with one of my clients about this and the one thing that kept bubbling up to the top was me time. I asked her how much ME time to does she have. She said this is it! There 168 hours in 1 week and she only give herself 2 hours with me. I’m flattered, but SERIOUSLY!! That is so SAD!

As I reflect on what makes me happy its ME TIME. I schedule something everyday that is all about ME. There are some many things that I do each day that are about other people, clients, my husband etc. That if I don’t take a few hours out of each day to devote to me I think I’d snap! So why is it that many people can’t seem to crave out some much need me time. I get it, I use to be a workaholic and I could always come up with a reason to work a million hours. Then I got laid off and I came to realization no matter how hard I worked, I still was just a number on a spreadsheet. So… if that was the case, I should have a better balance in my life in my next career endeavor.

So why did it take getting laid off to get that through my thick head. And how do I impress on people the importance of me time. During my FORCED “me time” I started to think about a few things.

If I could come up with the 3 things that matters most

1. my husband, after 15 years of being together, I still LOVE spending time with him, so we make sure that we schedule, yes we schedule time to spend together because we know that it won’t happen automatically.
2. my health and fitness. Its not only my passion but who I am. I’d go crazy if I wasn’t able to workout, or do any activity that I planned to try
3. travel — my husband and I love to travel and have a long list of places that we want to go

The other thing that I was to get rid of unnecessary activities. What does that mean’ I stopped doing things that I didn’t want to, I started removing the busy work and started to embrace relaxing and being comfortable with doing nothing.
Create private time and protect it. Just as a I said my husband and I scheduled time to spend together its scared. We don’t break our dates with each other.
Get help so that you can get more me time. I have a cleaning lady that comes 2x a month. This allows me and husband not to spend our weekends cleaning and scrubbing the floors well work the price of admission
Another schedule. Schedule in some fun. It doesn’t have to be this crazy thing. Just sitting on the couch watching a movie, doing a cross word puzzle and just taking a walk. Just schedule something that makes you happy.

This week’s challenge was awesome! Next week’s challenge is going to be a tough one. Because no matter how I’m feeling I’m suppose to put a smile on my face. I am charged with faking it until I make it happen. Given that I wear my heart on my sleeve and can get fired up because its Tuesday this is going to be a challenge, but I am up for it.

Are you depressed’

kimkb49 — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:53:58 +0000

Last night before we go to bed, my husband asked was I depressed because I’ve been writing about getting happy and he was worried. I was like no, I just saw this segment on Dr. Oz and wanted to see if I could do the challenge because I thought it was interesting.

Depressed… Hmm don’t know if I ever really get depressed. Wikipedia defines depression as feelings of sadness, helplessness, or hopelessness. Yes I do feel sad, and helpless at times, but those are times that also fire me up. Those times make me take a look inside and say HEY!!! YOU GOT KNOCKED ON YOUR ASS NOW WHAT!! Please note, I do believe depression is a serious issue and if you are feeling depressed you should seek professional help.

Thank you Philip for asking, but I’m not depressed, and after these past few days I realize that I’m not a Debbie Downer either.

3 things I am happy about today.

My husband made reservations for my birthday dinner at Sorellina in Boston. (My birthday is tomorrow) They have this kobe meatball dish. OMG!!! I had it in November and I can still taste it. That was sweet that he remembered.
Was able to add balance to my day. Instead of pushing through and working, I decided that I need to take time for myself and got my 30 minutes of cardio in.
Another one about my husband, he went did a look homework to try to come up with a birthday gift for me, by asking my friends what I would like and to search out one of my favorite waiters. I know sounds funny to have a favorite waiter, but this guy is AWESOME. He makes you feel like you are having dinner at his house and he is the host.
Bonus — One of my clients was a SERIOUS YOGI and was convinced that yoga alone would help her reach her fitness goals. I don’t get on my soap box when I hear those things, but hey I do try to persuade that you need a healthy dose of everything. Any who.. she came up to me today and said Kim I got to agree with Yoga is nice, but I’m really feeling like I need to do some sprints on the treadmill and I haven’t felt like this since um… EVER! That made me feel really happy. I was able to turn someone on to exercise. She might be feeling me right now after doing hill sprints, but hey kicking your own ass feels real good sometimes.

Past Happiness

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

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Happiness Project Day 3

kimkb49 — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:33:05 +0000

Here we are on day 3 of the happiness project. The past few days have me looking for things that make me happy. I guess I always thought it would be big huge things that would make me happy, but since I’ve been looking for things, I find being happy really is in how you look at things. The person on the Dr. Oz show was all about the cup being 1/2 full. Now that I’m looking for happiness I’ve discovered its all in how you look at things. My 3 happy things today.

Seeing Laura B. She was an old client that I haven’t seen in awhile and seeing her just made me smile. Then it got me thinking about the other people in my life that just make me smile and make me feel happy by being around them. Which lead me to think that I am fortunate that I have a number of people who do that for me on a regular basis.
Another fine weather day in Boston. I am a heat person! I love it so BRING IT ON!!! Just hoping that I don’t have to wait to long for another 80 day streak!
A pleasant surprise. A client canceled today and it allowed me to workout earlier than I expected. Which was AWESOME because we all know that the later in the day we workout the excuse monsters start to come out.

So far this has been a good exercise.

Day 2
Day 1

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Get Happy Day 2

kimkb49 — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:07:05 +0000

Today is my 2nd day of the get happy challenge. This week, I am to find 3 things to be happy about each day. At first I thought how simple is that, well not so simple. It really forces you to really think about your day versus just letting life happen around you. As I write this, and I am thinking about my day starting when my alarm clock went out at 5:00am until I got of the bus and started walking home.

My 3 happy things:

I was able to do 5 pull ups PAIN FREE!!! You see, I suffered an elbow injury back in October and its been slow to heal or I’ve just be impatient. Okay I have been impatient! Until today, I haven’t been able to do any pulling exercises since October. I’m a pretty active person and it been hard not to be able to do anything I wanted.
I was able to provide great advice to a colleague. She came to me because she trusted and valued you, my opinion.

Day 1 of the challenge

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Get Happier in 28 Days

kimkb49 — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:39:22 +0000

This afternoon while I was on the elliptical I was watching the Dr. Oz show. Today’s show was talking about people who are “Debbie Downer’s” and how he was going to help this women get happier in just 28 days. The women talked about the relationships that she has lost and that she really believes that the glass is half full. It got me thinking, am I “Debbie Downer” AKA DD. I do know of some DDs and yes I have distanced myself from them because just didn’t want to get caught in their negativity cycle. But have people distanced themselves from me because I’m a DD. God I hope not.

Dr. Oz said he could make you happier in just 28 days. So, I’m going to the challenge and prove to myself that I am not a DD.

Week 1 goes like this. Keep a happiness journal. So for the next week I will be updating you with my happiness journal. Each I am going to find 3 things to be happy about. They don’t need to be huge monumental things, but things that make me smile and feel good inside. I will admit there will probably be some crazy outrageous things, but hey that’s me.

I was surprised to learn today that their was a 2 hour episode of 24 on and I get to watch it with my husband
it was sunny and in the 70s and I got where a light jacket without a hat or gloves — here in New England we call this a heat wave.
my client Susan lost 2 pounds and the importance of food choices are starting to click in.
Bonus — just started reading a great new book “Little Earthquakes” (more fluff than mind filling), but the first few chapters have made me smile.

That is what I am happy about today.

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