Inspiration Mondays on a Tuesday: Doing What You Love

I choose to be happy because it is good for my health. - Voltaire

Perhaps it's because we're all still reeling with New Year's Resolutions, but I keep coming across a lot of "this time I'm gonna do it!" messages here and there. And yes, I hope that if you're working on something new, this time you WILL do it, whatever it is. Challenging yourself is a good thing, but you know what else?

The biggest challenge we face seems to do things that make us happy.

Today, I came across an article online that was going to tell me The Fat-Burning Exercise that Doesn't Involve Working Out. Naturally, I clicked on the link, because I'm all for any chance to be lazy (Megan, you killed me with those isolated squats!).

So, the gist of it was: If you write about things you care about, you lose weight.

Well, if that were the case, I'd be a size 2.

Of course, they go on to say that, because you are writing about things you care about, you feel good, and are therefore unlikely to go and chomp down on a bunch of chocolates to make you feel better about something. Endorphins and all that.

Yeah, I guess I can agree with that. Since I started this blog, I've learned to slow down and review my thoughts, and have spent a lot of time thinking about the things I like to make and thinking about how I want to write about it. And I spend time reading other blogs and thinking about other people's musings... and maybe I spend less time dwelling on depressing things because of it... and maybe I haven't eaten more chips and chocolate because of it...

I learned a long time ago that you may as well do what makes you happy, because if you don't, you'll make yourself ill. I know this because I left a job where I worked from 6am to 8pm every day, lost a bunch of weight in the process, and a lot of hair, too. And when I felt brave enough to leave it, the world changed for me... I was able to look around and get to know people, enjoy the scenery, breathe deeply, and love people properly, without the exhaustion that hovered over me constantly before.

I still have a lot of things I need to do to find the courage to do in order to make myself happy, but it is encouraging to know that there is some proof out there that doing the things that make you happy really is good for your health...

... although I don't think I'll ever be a size 2!