2016 was a leap year so that means there were 366 days in the year. It was also the year of sharing happiness. But why limit happiness to a year? So let’s add one day for continuity. 367.
Every. Single. Day. I wrote a funny/cheesy/inspiring quote on a colorful card, clipped a yellow smiley face sticker to it using a green mini-clip, and left the card in whatever random place felt right. You may be thinking: “wow, every day?”, “that’s perseverance”, “why would you do that?”, “I (wish I would have) found a card”, or “aww, that’s sweet”. So here’s my response as if we were chatting about it over dinner at your favorite comfort food restaurant. At the very end of these post I will describe the five key lessons that I learned from happiness367.
Every. Single. Day. I wrote a funny/cheesy/inspiring quote on a colorful card, clipped a yellow smiley face sticker to it using a green mini-clip, and left the card in whatever random place felt right. You may be thinking: “wow, every day?”, “that’s perseverance”, “why would you do that?”, “I (wish I would have) found a card”, or “aww, that’s sweet”. So here’s my response as if we were chatting about it over dinner at your favorite comfort food restaurant. At the very end of these post I will describe the five key lessons that I learned from happiness367.
*Setting: we just placed our order (thanks for your recommendation) and while reaching into my small black purse to retrieve and hand to you a yellow index card with a green mini paper clip I start saying:
January 1, 2017 marked the last day of happiness367 and I held true to the goal of sharing smiles for 367 days in random places around the city. The project even traveled to London, California and New Hampshire, and reached locals as well as tourists. Yes, there were times when I felt like I needed some inspiration myself and the last thing I wanted to do was think of an inspiring quote. But it was often on those days that I was most thankful to have a reason to remind myself of the goodness rather than stay focused on my unhappiness. I was also thankful to have family and friends who felt inspired and would contribute inspirational quotes as well. Ironic isn’t it? It’s like our conversation above; just because you’re a happy person doesn’t mean you will always feel happy.
Take a look at #happiness367 on Instagram and you will still most likely see a mixture of photos that I uploaded as well as photos that random people shared when they found the card. The account’s followers dropped off a lot after January since people unfollow frequently on Instagram; I have some gripes with that concept of Instagram followers, but that’s a story for another time.
Here are two of my favorite stories from Happiness367:
(1) One Saturday morning in February, I was riding the 1 subway to the upper west side for open-court co-ed basketball games. A woman embarked at 42nd st-Times Square sat to my right. On her left wrist she wore a black bracelet that had four sides with white writing, but only 3 sides were visible to me. And those three read, “NEVER. NEVER. NEVER.” I looked and pondered, ‘what does that fourth side say?’ After three more subway stops I gained the courage to ask:
(2) One late September night I was walking to my gym next to Park Avenue, and along the way I decided to leave a purple smile card clipped to a leaf. It was a tough day and I was feeling beat down, hoping the workout would breath some life into me. At that time I just wanted to cross this task off my to-do list. After clipping the card, I crossed the street with slumped shoulders, trying to muster the energy to exercise. Just as I got to the other side of the street I was startled by loud and fast footsteps hurtling my way. I swiveled right just in time to see a man sprinting for the uptown 6 train subway stairs. But then he dropped something. A purple card. A purple card with a green mini-clip attached. He gripped the railing with his right hand to stop his momentum, reached back around, grabbed the card with his left hand, and restarted his lightning fast dash down the stairs. This whole event happened in less than a minute but it immediately invigorated me. This man who was in a rush stopped to pick up the smile not only once but twice, and was bringing it home with him.
Here are five key lessons we can learn from Happiness367:
One valuable accomplishment can matter more than multiple mediocre checkpoints
You don’t always need a huge payout to know that you are on track
Make yourself accountable to others and ask them to help you stick to your goal
Know who you are, be comfortable with your quirks, and turn them into your greatest assets
Idea and execution are two very different things and we need to force ourselves to think through all the details of execution while still staying nimble and able to adapt to the things we didn’t think of
That’s my perspective. What’s yours?
- Me: We haven’t seen each other since November! I want to share with you something I’m really excited about
- You: I like the smiley sticker and the quote, “Wake up every day with the thought that something wonderful is about to happen.” But what is this for and what’s the hashtag?
- Me: #happiness367. Every day for 367 days in a row I’m going to leave cards like this in random places around the city for people to find and either take with them, take a photo of, move to another place, or just see and read.
- You: Wow. That’s interesting… and intense! What made you think of this?
- Me: It’s a way of bringing smiles to people without asking for anything in return... and having a lingering effect of being in that one place at some earlier time. Timing is everything, after all! Last year, I was walking along 38th street in Manhattan, smiling because of the warm spring air and chirping birds, when I noticed a short man and a tall woman walking towards me. From her eyes to her stride, the woman conveyed sadness. I remember feeling saddened myself as I gazed at her, until our eyes met and a smile drew itself across her face. I hadn’t realized that, despite my intrigue in her emotion, the smile never left my face. So we exchanged that smile, and for a moment she seemed happy-ish… but then we passed each other and she was gone forever. If only I could have given her a smile that she could take with her.
- You: that’s a sweet story. I try and be happy and make other people happy often too, but then life happens…
- Me: “happiness”’ and “often” are relative. Just because we try and see the silver linings doesn’t mean we won’t get sad or unhappy or feel beat down. You already know the stories of all the times people tried to dull my positivity and change my personality. So this is also a reminder for me to stay true to myself and be strong enough to recognize that if someone is trying to change me, I’ll part ways with them. It’s as clear cut as that.
- You: Has anyone posted a card you found yet?
- Me: Yes! Actually on day one! I went to Brooklyn Bridge Park and left smiles along the waterfront and in a coffee shop called Brooklyn Roasting Company. And someone in the coffee shop found and shared the card. When I left I actually saw the person and we started chatting and I gave them one more card since she was with a friend and they both wished to take home a card.
- You: I hope you’ll be able to stick with it every day!
- Me: I hope so too. It’s a test of my own perseverance. And since it’s only a week into the project I’m still finding inspiration from quotes online, but hopefully soon I’ll start coming up with the quotes on my own. I don’t have a super grand plan for it; just let it evolve and do good from the ground-up.
- You: I'm sure you will! Now, our food is here... let's eat!
January 1, 2017 marked the last day of happiness367 and I held true to the goal of sharing smiles for 367 days in random places around the city. The project even traveled to London, California and New Hampshire, and reached locals as well as tourists. Yes, there were times when I felt like I needed some inspiration myself and the last thing I wanted to do was think of an inspiring quote. But it was often on those days that I was most thankful to have a reason to remind myself of the goodness rather than stay focused on my unhappiness. I was also thankful to have family and friends who felt inspired and would contribute inspirational quotes as well. Ironic isn’t it? It’s like our conversation above; just because you’re a happy person doesn’t mean you will always feel happy.
Take a look at #happiness367 on Instagram and you will still most likely see a mixture of photos that I uploaded as well as photos that random people shared when they found the card. The account’s followers dropped off a lot after January since people unfollow frequently on Instagram; I have some gripes with that concept of Instagram followers, but that’s a story for another time.
Here are two of my favorite stories from Happiness367:
(1) One Saturday morning in February, I was riding the 1 subway to the upper west side for open-court co-ed basketball games. A woman embarked at 42nd st-Times Square sat to my right. On her left wrist she wore a black bracelet that had four sides with white writing, but only 3 sides were visible to me. And those three read, “NEVER. NEVER. NEVER.” I looked and pondered, ‘what does that fourth side say?’ After three more subway stops I gained the courage to ask:
- “excuse me ma’am, I’m just curious… what does your bracelet say?”
- “Never. Never. Never. Give up. My grandkids gave it to me. It’s my favorite.”
(2) One late September night I was walking to my gym next to Park Avenue, and along the way I decided to leave a purple smile card clipped to a leaf. It was a tough day and I was feeling beat down, hoping the workout would breath some life into me. At that time I just wanted to cross this task off my to-do list. After clipping the card, I crossed the street with slumped shoulders, trying to muster the energy to exercise. Just as I got to the other side of the street I was startled by loud and fast footsteps hurtling my way. I swiveled right just in time to see a man sprinting for the uptown 6 train subway stairs. But then he dropped something. A purple card. A purple card with a green mini-clip attached. He gripped the railing with his right hand to stop his momentum, reached back around, grabbed the card with his left hand, and restarted his lightning fast dash down the stairs. This whole event happened in less than a minute but it immediately invigorated me. This man who was in a rush stopped to pick up the smile not only once but twice, and was bringing it home with him.
Here are five key lessons we can learn from Happiness367:
One valuable accomplishment can matter more than multiple mediocre checkpoints
- You may feel like you need to keep the ball rolling by plugging ahead with the work that brings you mediocre results, because some result is better than none
- Instead, if you take a step back and allow yourself to reset your approach, then you can net out ahead in the future
- Relevant Happiness367 quote: Even an arrow has to be pulled backwards before it can be shot forwards
You don’t always need a huge payout to know that you are on track
- But it is human nature to know that the work you do is recognized
- You just have to ask yourself how much recognition do you need to feel happy
- Relevant Happiness367 quote: We all enjoy the glitz and the glamour, but even Gatsby did it all so he could share simple moments with his love
Make yourself accountable to others and ask them to help you stick to your goal
- This is far from a novel concept; the difficult part is convincing yourself that you are ready to be held accountable
- If I didn’t take photos and posts them to Facebook and Instagram, I may not have followed through for all 367 days. So some form of tracking is necessary
- Relevant Happiness367 quote: Superficial answers make life easier, but deeper and more thoughtful answers make life enriching
Know who you are, be comfortable with your quirks, and turn them into your greatest assets
- I am quirky. I am athletic. I am funny. I am preppy. I am pretty. I am adventurous. I am creative. I am strategic. I am caring. I am determined. I am a square peg that will never fit in a round hole. Which sometimes makes me an outsider. But I am willing to wait and find other square pegs rather than shave off my sides.
- Relevant Happiness367 quote: Look forward to where you are going but always remember who you have been
Idea and execution are two very different things and we need to force ourselves to think through all the details of execution while still staying nimble and able to adapt to the things we didn’t think of
- The idea of sharing smiles every day and writing multiple cards and leaving them around the city sounded great in January. But as the year progressed and free time became a commodity, sharing smiles occasionally felt like a chore
- That is why I am thankful to my mother and to my friends who helped me find inspiring quotes when my own psyche was in an unhappy state and am thankful to happiness367 for bringing us together in this common goal of sharing smiles. Inspiring others to help you is one of the greatest accomplishments of all
- Relevant Happiness367 quote: Shed your blinders. See the complete picture
That’s my perspective. What’s yours?