Step Out of the Norm!

Within this blog, I try to give tips, suggestions and share experiences to make people (y’all) happier, whether that be in your career, profession, personal life, family life, etc. This entry is geared more towards personal life, but I see some parallels that can be used for your professional life too! 

It occurred to me this past weekend that I’ve been having one hell of a time lately. I’ve been enjoying my time at work and away from work. In addition to increasing my activity level by going to Zumba classes and dance classes, I’ve also tried to find time to meet up with friends that are also busy that I may have not seen in a while and have been making weekend plans that include trips, parties, etc. 

I was thinking about all of this awesomeness (great word, huh) on my way to work this morning and realized the same has been going on at work. I’ve been happier overall and have varied my day to include more things. Work is work, and not every minute is enjoyable, but overall, it’s been nice. 

So then, being the over-analyzer that I am, I was trying to figure out why such a change of pace? My past few posts clearly demonstrated some frustrations that I was dealing with and I didn’t knowingly do anything differently. I realized that I’ve been changing my environment subtlety and unconsciously. I’ve been not sticking to a routine of going to work, coming home, cooking dinner, going to sleep. I also haven’t been spending every weekend watching Netflix and cleaning the apartment. At work, I haven’t been doing one type of task ALL the time and not saying anything about my discontent. 

I’ve been STOPPING a routine and starting to do things a little more outside of the norm for me. It’s not only made me happier and more relaxed, but it makes me happier with my relationships with other people. I feel like my boyfriend and I are able to have more varied fun together. I actually get to SEE my friends IRL (in real life) and not just only on Facebook or Twitter. Because I’m less stressed and dejected at work, my relationship with my coworkers and boss has been better as well. 

While routines do work for some areas of life, sticking to one at all times gets to be monotonous and makes one less likely to do things like take an impromptu trip to the lake, go camping, attend a quick professional HH, go to dinner with a friend to help them with their resume, and go on a random date. Those things seem to be the best things to attend! It’s made my life cooler and happier, so try it and I hope it does the same for you!! 

Pic above is from a conference that is near and dear to my heart! People Report Summer Camp! #PRScamp #PRBPC on Twitter! Definitely a pic out of the norm!