2019 Happiness Project —January Update

One month completed! Kind of, I guess.

For the month of January, I focused on boosting my energy. And when I say “one month completed,” I’m not wrong. January is coming to an end, so you can check that box. As for my attempts to boost my energy…

#1 Go to bed earlier

I had a hard time with this one. I still have an alarm on my phone set for 9:30 p.m. and over the last few weeks, I’ve gotten really good at silencing it. I’m inherently a night owl. Even on the nights I go upstairs to bed around 9:30, I stay up reading or putting on face masks or playing on my phone.

I’ve always felt that I get my best sleep between about 4:00 and 7:00 a.m. and thankfully I work from home two days/week. On those days I sleep in a bit.

I’m a work in progress.

#2 More outside walks

I did mostly ok here. The current polar vortex with negative temperatures has impeded my walking lately, but I’ve made a habit of walking around our neighborhood on my work from home days. I also try to walk through our company gardens on the days I’m in the office.

While it’s great to get in some extra steps each day (especially as I try to get to 1,000,000 steps this year), the biggest benefit has been the impact of time outside on my mental health. In the winter, I struggle a bit more with my anxiety and have also experienced seasonal depression in the past. The fresh air and—on a good day—the sunshine do wonders to keep me feeling happy and balanced.

#3 Eat more earth foods

The story here is more of the same: I did well but could’ve done better. We’ve always been pretty good about incorporating a vegetable into dinner and I’ve started bringing more fruits and vegetables for snacks at work.

I also started tracking what I eat on an app called Cronometer. The app gives you a really clear picture of how you’re doing in terms of vitamins and minerals in addition to tracking macros. Through that, I was able to determine where I’m deficient—usually iron and potassium. I’ve been taking supplements for those as needed.

#4 Learn about intermittent fasting and carb cycling

I did this one! I learned some stuff!

After researching IF, I decided to give it a go. I tend to eat late in the evening (see “night owl” above) so in order to try a 16:8 fast, I basically had to skip breakfast and not eat until about 1:00 in the afternoon.

I gave it a try one Tuesday when working from home. It was during a week when our baby-sitter was out of town, so I was working while also hanging with the kiddos… which is kind of stressful even on a full stomach! By the time I was making their lunches, I caved. I had been grumpy with them all morning so I ate. I’m not willing to sacrifice my children’s happiness for this and they definitely weren’t thrilled with me that day. Ultimately, I decided that 12-14 hours is the right length of time for me.

I looked into carb cycling a bit more, but determined that it’s not super feasible for this stage of my life. Carb cycling is based to some degree around a training schedule, which I don’t currently have. In the future I hope I’ll commit to something but with now it just isn’t happening. I have my walks outside plus strength training a few times/week when I can fit it in, and that has to be good enough for now.

In conclusion

It was honestly really fun to have something specific to focus on this month. I’m not bouncing off the walls with energy, but I’m not feeling nearly so sluggish this month. Is it because of the focus area? Is it because of this “new year, new you” motivation that shows up every January? We’ll find out in February when I move on to Month 2 of my Happiness Project!