10 Good Things

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I can honestly admit that I am not always the most positive of people. I am one of those people who has a tendency to be completely owned by their emotions and can go from ecstatic to miserable and back faster than you can say knife. I also find myself getting stressed and overwhelmed a lot, especially at the moment with the stress of exams and planning for going back home weighing on my mind. At the moment I am finding it very hard to think straight without worrying and am basically a bit of an emotional wreck. And unfortunately, my very chilled out, even-keeled boyfriend is baring the brunt of it. They say opposites attract and we are real homage to that- for as neurotic, crazy, emotional and passionate I am, he is as chilled out, laid back and difficult to upset.

I've been told many times that my problem is that I lack perspective. Yes, this week has been stressful. Yes, I am worried about exams and fretting about packing and a couple of other little things have gotten me down. But in the grand scheme of things, I'll be over all this tomorrow, or next week- something Erick is constantly reminding me of. When I found myself stuck and lost and scared at Chicago airport, Erick told me that in a week it would be my Birthday and this would all be a memory. He was right. I got on the next flight and the next day I barely even thought about the trauma. Similarly this week, he told me that next week all my stuff would be packed and shipped and all this stress will be over.

Similarly, I let these little things completely engulf me. Yes, I'm stressed about my exam tomorrow, but I forget that I aced my last one. I get annoyed if my boyfriend doesn't text me back, but I know he cares for me  and adores me. I have one stressful thing happen and I feel as though everything is falling apart.

And now to my point. I am going to make a conscious effort every day to write down 10 good things about that day. Big things or little things, it doesn't matter. It can be as simple as "really enjoyed my carrots and ranch dip today" or "Sex and the City was on in the gym" or "great comments on my blog today", or big things like "realised how supportive my boyfriend is today" or "finally handed in my 26-page, 7500-word, 41-source Independent Study paper today" or "thought about how wonderful my time here has been today" (all of these are on today's list).


I'm probably not going to share this list with you every day. Some stuff is private or personal or just plain silly to other people. But it's the little things sometimes that keep us afloat. I definitely want to bring more perspective and more positivity into my life and I hope this helps. I love seeing bloggers doing lists of weekly stuff that made them happy, so maybe on Sundays I'll do a little happy reflection. Of course there are going to be rubbish things that happen in my week, but wouldn't it be so much nicer to dwell on the good stuff?

As my boyfriend constantly tells me, Everything will be okay.
And I'm going to start believing him.

Do you write a list of happy things? Are you gonna join me in 10 Happy Things?

Charlotte xxx