by Kate Willoughby Hall
I flew back yesterday from an amazing blogging conference, Blissdom, and left with a slew of ideas, new friendships, and this darlin’ necklace that will remind me of an amazing three days in Nashville with like-minded web-oriented chicks.
On the way back my friend Kate Semp, an incredible force, mom-of-five, and my right-hand on Richmondmom.com and I got into a conversation about “bliss” and happiness and what it takes to sustain it in our everyday lives.
The conference was meant to inspire bliss in our work and our blogs but certainly our personal lives are so closely intertwined with those two things that it’s cause for introspection. I imagine this conversation rolling off the tongues of lots of people out there, so thought it may be fun to write about, and get your opinions.
I’m about to embark upon a personal change-up that I won’t go into detail about right now, but it’s caused me to think about how I can find bliss in my everyday life.
Is it in this piece of chocolate, this glass of malbec, this conversation with a friend who always makes you smile? For me all of those hold true, and in particular when that stranger–who really didn’t need to do it–sends me an email to say “thanks for writing that article, it meant a lot to me.”
So, in helping others find some happiness, I’m able to discover some of my own.
Surely our children are an immeasurable source of happiness–like when I walked in the door after being gone four days and my three-year-old little girl jumped up and wrapped herself around me and held on tight like a baby lemur, just saying in my ear: Mama.
Human babies and baby lemurs love to cling to their mamas. Who wouldn't?
The sheer hilariousness of children and their wonder-filled world-view is a constant source of my bliss. Take for example this morning, when our bunny Mr. Fuzzles came inside for his daily snuggle-fest and carrot treats. Immediately both of my younger kiddos knelt down on the floor with him and decided that they wanted to snack on carrots, too. (Note: all sources of my happiness are not necessarily clean, neat, or recommended in your home.)
10-second rule? No? We'll just pretend it was less than 10-seconds, okay?
Is it an ipod playlist with Kanye, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Arcade Fire AND Beastie Boys on it? Well, for me, hell, yeah!
It’s so easy to let these seemingly-small sources of happiness fall away when bigger problems occur: the loss of a job, a marriage, a home, or God forbid a child.
Those things that were once such a source of happiness are no longer available, so now what?
