Did drinking more water make me happier?

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For this week, I decided to try something easy. On days when I’m not exercising or hiking, I generally drink a cup of coffee and a glass of water (or less) every day, and I was beginning to wonder if my headaches, skin dryness, and other ailments might be because I was just dehydrated. Drinking more water is touted as a cure all, from improving your skin to boosting your immune system to giving you energy and a long list of other things. That said, not everyone actually needs 8 glasses of water a day, so I decided that instead of forcing myself to drink that much, this is what I did:

  1. Drink water first thing in the morning before I had any coffee
  2. If I feel hungry, stop to ask myself if I’m thirsty before eating anything
  3. Make water more readily available by actually filling my water bottle and keeping it near me

Did I end up drinking more water? Absolutely. I went from about 4 – 8 ounces of water a day to about 32 ounces. It was clear that I hadn’t been drinking enough water before. My skin issues and headaches weren’t fixed by drinking more water, so I wouldn’t say it’s the solution to every problem that so many articles promise it will be. That said, drinking water first thing in the morning really did provide me with energy and make me feel great, so that’s something I’m going to continue to do. I also wasn’t as hungry as I usually am and was more mindful when I was eating because I was paying more attention to my hunger and thirst cues.

Did it make me happier? Yes (but your mileage may vary if you’re already drinking enough water).

Did focusing on the inner work instead of the outer work make me happier?

by liftbakeloveLeave a Comment on Did focusing on the inner work instead of the outer work make me happier?

I was listening to the Happier podcast by Gretchen Rubin when I heard her say “do the inner work, not the outer work.” Her and her co-host Elizabeth were discussing why sometimes you just can’t fix a problem; you need to put a band-aid on it so you can move past it. In these cases, it can be much more productive and easier to change how you react to the situation than trying to change the situation itself. As someone who routinely is trying to fix everything and constantly worrying, I decided to make this my experiment this week. What if I could focus on myself and how I was going to respond to challenges instead of trying to change the behavior of others or fixing entire situations? Here’s how it went:

The thing I was most surprised about was that I was way calmer. Instead of looking at situations as stressful moments I would have to power through, I looked at them in terms of what actions I could take and let the rest go. I also stopped worrying as much. I knew that I was doing everything I could do, and everything else was out of my hands.

It also helped me see what wasn’t investing time and energy in. For example, we’re currently looking for florists for our wedding and have a pretty good idea of what we want. One of the possible florists sent us a proposal three times that included the wrong colors and number of pieces, even after she was informed of her mistake. Normally, I would have kept working with her to try to get it right so I could compare her proposal against the others. Instead, we decided this florist just wasn’t right for us. Doing the inner work (deciding what was best for us and moving forward with our decision quickly) rather than doing the outer work (trying over and over again to get the florist to be what we wanted) worked so well.

Did focusing on the inner work and not the outer work make me happier? A resounding yes!

Did buying succulents make me happier?

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To start off these weekly experiments of trying one new thing to see if it can improve my life, I decided to do something that was fairly inexpensive, easy, and something I’ve read a lot about lately. I’ve been seeing articles for months about how making your life greener will ultimately make you happier. You should spend more time vacationing in nature, cover your living space and office with plants, and go for walks as much as possible. My favorite podcast even did an episode about the book The Nature Fix, which essentially promises that everything in your life can be fixed with more nature.

But what about those of us who have no idea how to take care of plants, live in an area with little sun, and have a small apartment with no balcony? The recommendation: get succulents.

I wasn’t sure whether succulents would be a replacement for long walks outside or a vacation to a National Park, but we went to a plant store and got 6 adorable succulents potted to sit on our windowsill. Now that we’ve had them for the week, I know they won’t replace actually being in nature. I don’t get the same burst of joy and energy from them as I do from a weekend of hiking and no cell service. But they do make me happier. Every time I look at them, I feel a little calmer. I feel like I did something nice for myself and for our space. It was a small investment for an item that really does spark joy every single day.

My verdict: Yes, succulents can make us happier!