In February last year I registered with a website challenging me to be happy for 100 days in a row. The concept? Every day, for 100 days, post a photo and a caption, pertaining to something in my day that made me happy – whether that is entirely, momentarily, or anything in between, writes Esther Osborn.

The post could be on any social media platform of my choice and identified by the hashtag ‘#100happydays’ Personally, I chose Facebook but for those of you who are less internet savvy and have no idea what I’m talking about when I say hashtag, Facebook and Twitter, then please bear with me as that matters not.

That’s the beauty of how this evolved and could be done by any one of you, whether you are aged 9 or 90. And so it began. My #happydays. I’m not going to lie, I really didn’t think I’d manage to do it as, let me tell you it was no mean feat.

Granted, some days were easy and an obvious choice would present itself but my, my, on those dark days or bad days when it seems like the world and his wife are out to get you – (remembering) and finding a positive happening was a struggle. But I persevered and I found that I started to look forward to doing it. And as corny as this sounds, it actually started to make me feel good – feel #happy you might say.

Fellow ‘Facebookers’ started to message me and comment on my daily report. People went out of their way to actually get in touch, and in them doing so, my happiness grew. If my post involved another person, in mentioning them, the appreciation and response spread and would make others smile too.

And you know what was most interesting? It was often the more ‘run of the mill’ or ‘little things’ events that generated the biggest response.

Sure, extraordinary events are wonderful, but in life, the majority of our happiness needs to come from taking pleasure in the smaller things, or in finding a silver lining when it all goes ‘Pete Tong’.

Which, incidentally, has now become my motto in a world where it can’t be hunky dory all the time.

I made it my mission to put an ironical spin on even the worst of days and I found that by the end of it, I would have myself laughing at my own misfortune. And it worked. And it helped. They do say that sometimes, if we don’t laugh we’ll cry. And it’s true.

And I made my 100. And I decided that I didn’t want to stop there. So I’m going for the #365 – a whole year of #happydays. And so that folks, is my invitation. I invite you to try it. And the beauty is that you don’t need to use the internet to do it. Sure, you can do. Just start off on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #100happydays.

But if that’s not your bag just keep a happydays diary. Get a nice new notebook for 2015 and do it that way. Or get an old jam jar and fill it daily with a note of what occurred. It can be one word or it can be a whole page.

Trust me when I say it works and is even better to look back over when you’re feeling down and in need of cheering up. Sure it takes a bit of effort. But anything worthwhile generally does and if you were looking for a resolution... there you have it. Resolve to be happy! I hope you give it a bash. I’ll reach my 365. And you know what? I may even go for another year. Just don’t tell anyone I said that, I’m keeping it as a surprise.

  • SO here we are folks – the start of 2015 and another year begins.  The festive season is over and I hope you all had a good one, however you chose (or were forced?) to spend it.

    It’s the time for reflections and resolutions. Goodwill season has passed and now we move to good intentions – all the things we must do this year. How we must change our ways, overhaul our lives... or just eat less chocolate.

But sadly, it’s a known fact that resolutions don’t last long and it’s a difficult time of year for many people.  
The January blues come into force with the power of an arctic sledgehammer as we face the credit card bills, the lull in activity and get back to business as usual in all respects.

So what’s my point? ‘This is nothing we haven’t heard a million times before’, I hear you cry. Well, I actually have a suggestion for you all. I say that tentatively as, in fact, a friend suggested that I make this suggestion... if you know what I mean?
And my suggestion is this:
#happydays.