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4 Awesome Traits Of Happy People

You just want to be around happy people don’t you? There is something special about them. Apart from smiling and laughing more often than the rest of the population, happy people also have these four traits in common:

They are good at being present.

Happy people focus on what’s happening right now. They know that whatever happened in the past, stays in the past. There’s no point mourning about it in the present. So, they make the most of what they do have. They learn from their mistakes and failures in the past, but they don’t dwell on it too much. Which is the exact opposite of what unhappy people do.

Most people are unhappy because they let themselves get too attached to the past. If you’re one of them, you’ve got to learn to let go. Move on and focus on what you have in front of you, right this very moment. Otherwise, you’re going to miss out big time on the present, and you’ll only add it to your long list of things you regret from your past.

They are more optimistic.

Happy people aren’t naive. They know the future is important. They can’t simply live in the present, and not have a good plan for the future. They’re optimistic about what the future holds. They look forward to it and embrace it as if it’s a fact that it will happen.

If you’ve got a good thing going, you’d want it to last as long as possible. This is why happy people want to protect their source of happiness. They’re not going to throw it away for some silly things that are going to cost them a whole lot more.

They appreciate everything.

Gratitude is often overlooked by those trying to find happiness. It’s so easy to look beyond the good things you do have and go straight to wishing for things you know are way out of your league at this time.

Let’s talk about money: for most people, being wealthy is their ultimate goal. They think that when they become rich, they can finally be happy. But, oftentimes, this isn’t the case because it just brings knew problems for you to dwell on. You can be happy without being wealthy. Try to appreciate the gift of life, family and friends, good health, etc. Life’s not all about money, you know.

Dig in and find 3 things to be thankful for right now. Big or small doesn’t matter, The fact that you are open to being grateful for what is right in front of you makes a major impact in your happiness.

A good sense of humor is essential.

Happy people know how to roll with the punches. They don’t dwell on whatever negative thing’s happening to them right now. They take it all in stride. They try to find the humor in everything. This is why happy people are such a joy to be with – they help other’s see things in a different and more positive light.

While bad things could be happening in their life, they are willing to find some good in it or even poke a little fun at themselves to help them get through it. Just as finding gratitude in your daily life will improve your happiness, looking for the things that will make you giggle does as well. There’s a reason why puppy videos are so popular. It makes us happy to laugh at them!

All 4 of these traits are easy to start doing immediately. If you’ve been down for quite some time it could take you a little bit to put happier habits in place. But, I know you are worth the work. It’s time to get happier and enjoy your wonderful life.

Need a bit more help getting happy? Download my free “It’s Time To Believe In Yourself” ebook and workbook. It’s quick action steps that you can start doing immediately.

Do you feel like you are a happy person?

Remember, happiness is a choice. Live with no regrets.

Signs Of Business Burnout

Ack, save your business!

I’ve been working online for nearly two decades and burnout is a big issue for solopreneurs. I’ve totally battled it personally. Even though partnerships can have their ups and downs, at least you have someone to handle some of the stress and responsibility. You have that partner to commiserate with when things aren’t going right and share the workload.

Solopreneurs are by themselves and have the entire weight of their success on their shoulders. This can lead you to work 14+ hour days and lose track of what’s happening at home with your family. But, is focusing so much attention on your business a wise decision?

You know the answer is no if you want to be happy in your life and enjoy your family. Even if you’re single, making time for self-care and relaxation will improve your overall health and mental well being. Here are signs you might be headed toward business burnout.

Insomnia. If your brain can’t shut down because you’re consumed with work, your sleep pattern will be disrupted, leaving you overtired, lacking energy, and possibly lacking the mental energy to make wise business decisions.
Procrastination. Do you cringe at the length of your daily to-do list? Did these tasks once excite you but now they make you want to crawl under a rock? Procrastination leads to missed deadlines and opportunities to promote your business.
Fatigue. The human body is only capable of handling so much stress on limited sleep. Certainly you’ve heard the phrase “burning the candle at both ends”? That’s what happens when you work yourself to the bone and don’t give your body and brain enough time to recover before starting another high-stress day. At some point your body will want to give up, causing severe fatigue and possibly other illnesses that will keep you out of the office. Who has time for that?
Changes in appetite. For some people, stress causes them to overeat; for others, stress reduces their appetites. Neither extreme is good for your body. For optimal health and mental clarity, take lunch breaks away from the desk and choose natural, healthy food choices instead of fast food items.
Anxiety. High stress causes anxiety, which can cause crippling fear or other physical symptoms. Keep in mind: there’s a big difference between the anxiety you feel when stepping out of your comfort zone versus stress-induced anxiety that doesn’t seem to go away. The latter will debilitate you and not let you move forward in anything you are doing.

Think about this: as a solopreneur, if you are not physically able to run your business, what happens to it? Chances are, you’ll have to close your doors and any streams of income you currently have will disappear.

Let’s avoid this happening! Take care of your whole body, mind, and spirit. Take quiet time to relax. Get outdoors and breathe in some fresh air. Unplug for a whole weekend and live in the moment with your family. Reconnect with old friends. Start a hobby. The choices are limitless. It’s not easy to build these better habits and I totally get it! I’ve burned myself out before. When you aren’t taking time to enjoy the life you’ve created, what’s the point of it all?

Follow these 5 Tips for Easy Self-care

In just a few days I’m hosting a webinar dedicated to this self-care topic. I discovered changes in my own business and my mindset once I started taking care of myself and living life outside of the office, computer and phone. My webinar is titled, “5 Self-care Ideas for Busy Entrepreneurs” and I promise you don’t need to dedicate hours a day or make any pricey purchases to be successful at taking care of yourself. Implement these tips in the privacy of your home. Grab your seat today!

Remember, happiness is a choice. Live with no regrets.

Do You Have Peeps?

I’m here to annoy you with a story. I promise to keep it short. Don’t roll your eyes at me knowing that’s not possible! lol

I want to know who you are surrounding yourself with on and offline.

Do you have your tribe, your person, your people, your BFF, your ride or die?

Are you in-between people or groups you would consider calling any of the above?

I’ve gone through huge changes in the last decade and that includes who I’m surrounding by. I lost touch with my BFF as we both got busy with life and family. Then we hooked back up again and it was amazing to have that connection back. No one can compete with over 35 years of friendship. Good or bad, she knows me and will always know me better than any person on the planet.

I’ve been lost in other groups of friends because of my lack of confidence during those times. I probably lost some good friends along the way. It may be time to reach out and see if we can connect again.

But, those that are in my life right now are killing it. I’ve found women that will give me a giant hug and call my shit out. Being a strong personality, that isn’t easy for others to do. I had to find women that realize I’m loud, but I don’t bite.

A week ago I had a giant hug and “put those big girl panties on” “you can do it” type of day.

I freaked the F out. Totally lost it. Hyperventilating. Panic attack. Freaked out.

And my peeps were there to listen as I typed out nonsense to them and just let it out. After reading what I typed to them the next day, I was shaking my head. T-R-A-I-N-W-R-E-C-K status.

Letting it out was what I needed in order to get control back.

Our house went on the market February 28th and it was way more emotional than I thought it would be. We still had 3 projects left to finish up the night before and both hubby & the youngest weren’t going to be home until 5. I now have track practice so I’m not home in the afternoon either. PLUS, I had to get my client work done during the day.

I overloaded.

I admit that I have control issues. I recognize them and I work hard at squashing them down unless they are useful. But, there was too much going on that was out of my control. The not knowing is something I don’t do well with. (who does?) The realtor texted me the afternoon before and said she had two VERY serious buyers wanting to look at the house right away and it set me off.

We have a plan for where we are going while we wait to find property and build. Even though we have options and won’t have to jump into something nor live in a hotel, I was freaking out at how fast everything was going. It didn’t slow down after that either.

My peeps reminded me to look at all the good. Throwing all my words and advice back at me. I started working through all the positives. Just like I would tell someone if they came up to me freaking the F out.

I’m excited and happy about all the change happening. I really do want it. BUT HOLY CRAP, CHANGE IS SCARY when it’s this big.

We have lived in this house for 20 years. Raised both the kids here in a house that was only supposed to be temporary. I had no idea how hard it was all going to hit me until it did.

I want you to find your peeps. If you’ve lost touch with them, I want you to reach out. Your confidence has a lot to do with the people you surround yourself with, so keep the good ones and let them know!

Thanks for being part of my crew! I hope you consider me one of yours. (blows kisses)

Remember, happiness is a choice. Live with no regrets.

How About Them Birthdays?

changing birthdays Happy Birthday To ME!

Probably not appropriate etiquette, but I don’t care. It’s my birthday and I have quite a bit to say about it.

Do you love or hate your birthday?

Age is just a number to me and I have no issue with growing a year old. Sure some years have made me reflect more and ask myself questions, it’s never a WHOA IS ME, I’M OLD. Even today when I woke up and my back was tweaked. We laughed because it was like my body was telling me “Happy birthday ya old bitch” lol

I spent years, hell decades, being angry about birthdays. I’ve had many pretty shitty ones and I focused on those shitty ones and ruined others because of it. Have you seen Sixteen Candles? I grew up with seriously, awesome parents and they forgot my 16th bday. Yeah, no joke and no sisters wedding as an excuse. (Watch the movie if that went over your head.)

Unfortunately, 2 years ago I was forced to buck up forever. 2 years ago my FIL passed away the night of my birthday. Pretty close to right now as a matter of fact. Hubby and I had gone out of town and it was an amazing day. It was a day we seriously needed after all of the care giving and stress we’d had for months. Then we saw his brother had been trying to get ahold of us while we were at dinner and we knew it couldn’t be good. My FIL had been very sick and when we went out of town we knew it could possibly happen.

There could be very little that could ever make my birthday worse than losing a loved one.

Last year when it was the first anniversary, I was determined that my birthday will not turn into a day of grieving. While I acknowledged that we both will have grief on this day, I refuse to let MY BIRTHDAY be a day of sadness for the rest of my life.

Which means, I had to make changes.

See, for years I just expected people to know what I wanted. I was pouty and annoyed that they didn’t know I wanted to be celebrated in grand style. If you know me this is hilarious because it’s the opposite of how I live life lol

How could they know if I didn’t tell them?

I do tell them now. I also set things up myself. I bought myself a birthday shirt. I’m about to hit amazon and load up my shopping cart and NOT take half of it out before checking out. (I’m not only one that does that right?)

A big thing I am also doing is saying YES. Hubby always says we’ll do whatever I want and I just do the Eeyore, oh well, I’m just fine doing nothing. I created a lot of my own misery. I’m owning it and moved on 😉

In future years I will plan trips for my bday. We have this odd phenomenon of it snowing here now. Somewhere warm sounds fun instead of the 5-6 inches I’m looking at.

For now we stay home. Our youngest’s bday is the day after mine lol See, I told you I have a long history of martyrdom going on with this birthday thing.

I’m choosing to make my birthday what I want. With no resistance from anyone because the only one stopping my happiness was myself.

It’s too bad it took me this long and such a big event for the change to happen. But, I’m thankful I woke up and decided to make this day mine just like I’d always wanted it to be.

I’m over the years of focusing on the crappy bdays. I recognize they happened and I move on. Because today is now about what I make it.

So excuse me while I go pour myself a whiskey & coke while making my hubby watch Pitch Perfect with me while I recite it word for word and sing along 😉 Oh, while he makes me a killer steak dinner. I’m working on finding my inner diva I didn’t know existed.

Happiness is a choice. Live with no regrets.

P.S. – If you are ready to figure out what will make you happy, join us on the 11th when we start the What Do I Want? workshop.

Don’t Live In Mediocrity

“You’re not just deferring your dreams, you’re missing out on your next great purpose in life!”

Does the term middle age make you cringe? What about midlife?

If you are like many you probably just had the visual of some creepy guy in the 80’s with a comb over, fake leather pants, convertible and a barely 20something girlfriend. Why is that? Seriously, that couldn’t have been the norm. The media must have helped us along with that image. It’s so weird that this stigma has been put on midlife and how much change happens.

This crazy, unrealistic image does have some really good points to it though. The guy wasn’t happy in whatever life he was living and he changed it. There is nothing wrong with that and no one should be judged for making changes in their life that make them happier, even if they are drastic.

This is not my way of telling you to runaway from your life and create a new one. Nope, you worked too hard to create the great things you’ve got. I want you to improve on you and really rock your life. Take everyone with you on your journey.

I believe you are never too old to go for any goal.

You still have decades left and you don’t want to live them out in mediocrity. What a waste!

I bet you could use some help figuring out what those goals are. How deep are your dreams buried after years of taking care of others?

Before you figure out your next dreams to tackle, how about a little of the why it’s important?

The kid in you still has dreams.

Remember that crazy school list you made every year of all the careers you were going to have? Astronaut, President, dancer, teacher…sound familiar? lol

There are still many of those wants inside you and it’s time to let them out. If you are not in politics already it may be difficult to become President now, but you can be president of something and run it! Make a huge difference in a business or your city council or a charity.

Same with astronaut. By midlife, I’m going to have to be real and tell you it’s not really an option to work for NASA. But, your love of space and the stars doesn’t have to be pushed back. Go get a job at a planetarium and geek it up as you get other people excited with your passion for the topic. At minimum go online and find a group with the same interest. You never know where that could lead.

Make a list of all the realistic and silly dreams you can remember and see where the brainstorming leads. There is no reason why the kid in you can’t turn the dreams into awesome adult realities.

Yes, trying new things is scary, but also super exciting!

Do you remember the last time you rocked something new? I mean really rocked it. As in, “holy crap, I didn’t even know how great I’d be at this” kind of rocked it.

Truth is, I have a huge issue with not being great at things. For years it held me back from trying new things. I think it’s part of my competitive nature. If I do it, I want to be one of, if not, the best at it. EEEK, who would try new stuff with that mentality? You can rarely learn new things and always be amazing right off the bat.

But, there’s this strange little flight or fight adrenaline rush that happens when you try new things. You get to choose if that adrenaline tells you to stop and run or gets you giddy and you laugh your way through any errors that come along.

Hint: if you go for giddy, it gets addicting and you find you enjoy trying more and more new things to get that rush. Be prepared.

You now have time, money, experience and wisdom in your toolbox.

Alright, I’m not saying you may be rich. My 20something’s cost way more now than they ever did growing up.

But, you should be better off than you were in your 20’s and trying to figure out career and life goals right?

Now that the kids are grown and you can focus on you, the only thing holding you back is YOU. You choose if you have time to go back to school or join a new group. I know it’s weird, but you don’t have to coordinate with the kids schedules anymore. What a big change.

Wisdom and experience, man these are fun when you try new things. You are bringing years of experience to situations. It’s awesome to get into a new project and realize that your life experiences are going to help you learn faster or even create a new way of doing something.

That last phrase is what I really want to leave you thinking about.

Your life experiences are going to help you learn faster and possibly create new ways of accomplishing things.

You must share that experience with your community and the world. Until you try new things you have no idea where your next life’s purpose could take you and who you could be helping.

It’s time to find your dreams and next purpose in life. Because baby, it’s your turn.

If you aren’t sure what you want to do next, join us in the What Do I Want? workshop.

Remember, happiness is a choice. Live with no regrets.