Current location:	The livingroom.
Current mood:	pleased
Current music:	"One more day with you"

Steph's rules for being happy
Because I'm such an energetic, happy person, people tend to get annoyed with me. I'm serious- it freaks people out that I seem to be in such a good mood day after day after day, except under extinuating circumstances. Certainly, if I wanted to, I could come up with a lot of reasons why I shouldn't be happy. But I choose not to be depressed. So here are some things I do that put me in a constant good mood:

1. Don't sweat the little things. Let's face it, you won't be able to do anything about them anyway so there's no point in worrying about them. Get them out of your mind. A broken nail really doesn't matter that much in the great scheme of life. GET OVER IT.

2. Don't sweat the big things either. Let yourself worry more about these things, but don't let yourself *over-worry* about these things. Hard work and determination can fix just about every problem. For the ones they can't fix, see rule number three. Whatever you're concerned about, try to get it out of your head by the time you go to sleep at night. If you don't, you'll just end up sleep-deprived which will only make it worse.

3. Find several someones you can trust and talk to them. Consistently.  Always tell someone about the things that worry you. No doubt, the people that you call friends think somewhat like you do, but no one will think exactly like you, so you will always get a fresh opinion or a new way of looking at things. When I was trying to figure out the money thing for college, I talked to so many people I'm sure that they got tired of my whining. It was so important to me, I couldn't avoid asking for help. Even when it's something stupid like "I'm jealous of my boyfriend's female friend because she hangs out with him and I can't," a good friend will comiserate and make the load on your shoulders feel a little bit lighter.

4. Get a song you like stuck in your head and sing it or hum it to yourself all day. This one is my little trick for always feeling energized. I get a song I like stuck in my head and I sing it all day and it keeps me bouncing and on my toes. This works better if you pick a bouncy, happy song, but sometimes slower songs work too.

5. Get plenty of sleep. Yes, your mother and your grandmother and your uncle and probably the ant on the sidewalk know this and have told you so. Yet, why do so many people insist that sleep is un-neccessary or rediculous? Yes, I realize that most people spend 1/3 of their lives asleep. Mine's going to be a little more than that. Too much sleep can make you more tired though, so be careful. I don't know how that works, but it does. Anyway, the right amount of sleep will ensure that your brain is functioning to its full capacity, which is a really good thing.

6. Be optimistic. What's the point in being pessimistic? You'll drive yourself crazy. Sure, if things turn out badly, you'll be right, but wouldn't you rather things turned out well?

7. Like yourself. This one is especially difficult. I know because I'm still working on it. My self-esteem has absolutley sky-rocketed since I went to college. I'll tell you why if you're really interested. But anyway, you're the only person you have to live with everyday, 24/7. If you don't like yourself, it's like having a bad room-mate. When you're walking through the mall by yourself and no one looks at you don't think "Oh, no one looks at me because I'm not good-looking." Everyone else may be thinking the same thing. Look people in the eye and smile! Lots and lots of people will smile back, because they weren't expecting someone to take the time to smile. And smiling makes you look nicer too, by the way.

8. Dance. I don't care if it makes you look silly. If you feel really stupid doing it, do it at home when no one's watching or do it in your car on the way to work (but carefully). But do it. I mean it. Oh, and throw in a happy dance for those occasions when you can't contain your happiness or excitement. my happy dance is on one leg with much shaking of my arms. It's awfully funny looking, but I do it a lot.

9. Be enthusiastic. This is sort of similiar to the optimistic one, but not quite. If your mom says "Dear, take out the trash please." Don't think about how it's wasting your time, think of the time it's saving your mom, so that she can do other things. If your boss says "Hey, I want you to mop the floor." Think "Well, it'll sure look nice when it's clean." Rather than "Oh great, busywork." Be cheerful when you're doing little things and people will appreciate it.

10. Eat and drink what you want and like. It might make you fat, but at least you're happy doing it. If you're not happy fat, then exercise more, and eat fruits and veggies along with what you like to eat and drink. For example, I reaaaaaaally like eating pineapple on my pizza. Pinapple's a fruit, even if pizza isn't that good for you. Tradeoffs.

11. Love. I don't care if it's your boyfriend, your wife, your brother, or your pet iguana, find something/someone to care for. Way, way too many people don't get enough love. If anyone is lacking some friend love, I've got plenty for everyone, just let me know. I might even have some for John Cowen, but that's pushing it a smidgen.
         B. Hugs, lots and lots of hugs. This is an addition to the Love part because getting lots of hugs will just make you happier. But it'll make you especially happy if you get them from something/someone you love.

12. Exercise. For me lately, it's been pushing carts up a slight hill to get them into the store again. But exercise will make you tired, which will make you sleep more which will make your brain function better which will make you happier.

Okay, that's enough for now. If you want to kill me for all of that go ahead. But I had to post that or pop. I know a lot of those are "easy for me to say" but I had to write them anyway. I left off a couple of controversial ones because they help me, but wouln't necessairly help everyone. I love you people.

Thought for the day: Life. Live it, love it.

Happy things: Dustin, dreams, Dustin, work, making money, sleep...oh, and Dustin.