Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Yesterday, I provided journal pages to download and use for writing your Inner Workouts and keep track of your healthy eating and exercise. In the Daily Tracking Section, I had a spot to check off my Healthy and Happy List. It took me awhile, but I have a list of things that keep me healthy and happy. The more of these things that I can do, the better my life runs and the happier I am. I wanted to explain each one here:

Exercise: Exercising every day not only helps me be healthy, it boosts my mood. After only a month of regular exercising, I realized that I needed to put it on my list.

Eat Healthy: When I eat healthy, I feel a sense of pride in myself, so it boosts my mood. Mostly, it’s on the list so that I’ll be healthy and strong.

Clean Something: I have a hard time being happy in a cluttered and messy house. All I have to do is tackle one household chore a day to substantially improve my mood.

Sleep 8 Hours: This number might be different for you, but I need at least eight hours of sleep every night to function. It’s really hard for me to be upbeat and happy when I’m struggling to stay awake.

Create Something: Allowing myself a little time every day to be creative is really important to me. All it takes is a small craft project or a few rows of crochet to make me happier.

Journal: I already talked yesterday about how regular journaling keeps me happy and less likely to binge. I find it ironic that there is a check mark in the actual journal. If I don’t journal, then I usually don’t fill out my Healthy and Happy List. It seems like if I don’t journal, everything falls apart.

Work: Work is an important part of life. If I don’t work, I don’t make money, but if life is ALL work, then I end up feeling deprived and unappreciated, even though it was me who pushed myself so hard. I need to make sure I do some work every day, but not so much that I don’t get to check off the other boxes on my list.

Play: I love to play video games. I love to read trashy sci-fi novels. I love to play with my pets. I love to watch movies. I love to watch television. I put all entertainment on such a low priority, though that I end up having binges if I don’t incorporate a little bit of play into my life at all times. I need to give myself permission to enjoy a movie or video game a little bit every day to prevent those strange days when all I do is sit on the couch and watch Star Trek: The Next Generation reruns.

Social: Sending personal emails, calling on the telephone and actually seeing friends in person are all social things. Sometimes I neglect the most important people in my life and other times, I plan so many social things that I’m sick of people. I need to find a balance to keep myself happy. That’s why social is on the list. If I do a little bit every day, I won’t neglect and I won’t get “peopled-out.”

Read: I love to read books, but that is categorized in the Play section for me. This is more work related. I need to keep up on the latest technology, fitness and travel information to do my job correctly, so I have a ton of weblogs that I read. If I am able to read them, I feel more control of my work life and it makes me happy.

This list probably has little to do with YOUR personal happiness. That’s why the journal pages are in Excel format instead of Adobe Acrobat. You can change the journal pages to match what you need every day to keep you happy. Take a few minutes and really think about what makes you happy. Make a list add it to your personalized journal pages.