happiness?

i am no longer the owner of empty boxes, clothes/jewelry i don't wear, or outdated receipts and various documents.

my thanksgiving break was delightful. here's what i did on my mental list:

gym – exercised in my apt. so it counts. kinda.

temple – not during official break, but since i was still on break yesterday it also counts. kinda.

(and boy am i glad i went then... read more in a future blogpost)

clean – every single room (well, the ones we spend time in) in our apt was cleaned.

organize – yes yes yes!!! every single thing i own was organized, and it took all break. worth it!

read – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (book and movie - true story worth knowing)

tv/movies – basically watched seasons 1-4.5 of the office. laughed out loud multiple times a day.

walks – biked to the store once and thought my face was going to freeze off, so no.

thanksgiving meal – chicken breast (huge, so lasted two days), stuffing, homemade mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, green beans, rolls, and homemade pumpkin pie. delicioso.

sleep – thankfully yes. a lot.

did i do homework? no. should i have? yes, but no. this break was most needed. for relaxing and feeling good about myself and my life. and rarely does homework do that for me. i feel organized, and that can, and will, help me do my homework for the next two weeks, so i'm good.

do i feel good about myself and my life? or a better question:

am i happy?

for the past little while, or actually most of this semester i have been attending a

looooooooooooooooooooong pity party, with myself as the only attendee. this is never healthy. short pity parties, i have found, can be very healthy. but get on with your life! i have not gotten on with my life, nor do i want to. because guess what? pity parties are more enjoyable than getting on with life. but i have to. i have to choose to be happy.

president uchtdorf gave this talk in the general young women meeting for april 2010 conference. in it he said:

"It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life's story will develop."

i am not reacting to my adversity in accordance with the life story i seek after. this reaction belongs in a different life story, someone else's perhaps, but not mine.

so i have a choice. in fact, i have multiple. what all of them are i know not. but i know that my reaction and attitude needs to change.

because i want to be this –––>

happy.

so that's my goal, and i'm working on how to get there.

my conclusion: happiness is a choice. so i'm choosing it.