Challenge: Are You Too Busy To Be Happy?

Today is Day 8 of my 100 Days of Happiness Challenge. I am officially over a week in and already enjoying going back to remind myself of happy moments over this past week. It also has me looking ahead to fun activities and opportunities that will keep me smiling.

Admittedly - and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it - my initial reaction to seeing friends post pictures with the #100happydays trend was "are you trying to prove something?" or "is this some kind of who has a better life competition?" Once I'd seen more than a handful of "happy" photos flood my Instagram I actually decided to do some research about the challenge. All I had to read on the website to be completely hooked was the following stat:

It's hard to believe that anyone could be "too busy" to be happy and yet I can just hear myself saying I "didn't have time" to take a solitary photo for Day 9 or 10, etc. It takes less than 30 seconds to snap a photo and upload it to some form of social media. And yes, I realize you can be happy and not take a picture but this just seems like a nice thing to try and follow through on.

The challenge has made me recognize and appreciate the little things in life more - things like a pretty landscape, a free coffee and bagel and time spent with people I love. Oftentimes, it's the things that drive me crazy or make me unhappy that are more obvious to me but this exercise in happiness has made me realize that sometimes I take the little moments of happiness for granted.

Above are some of the happier moments - planned and unplanned - from this past week that have kept me going. It's also a relief to not over think each moment and just snap a photo when the time is right without worrying too much about the lighting in the photo or how the colors appear.

You'll just have to follow along and see what the above photos meant to me and what else I have to share with you along the way to Day 100! I'm hoping to keep the daily photos going long after the challenge is completed. Is anyone else trying the 100 Days of Happiness Challenge? I'd love to hear what makes you happy each day & if you're not thinking about it, I challenge you to try this!