Reading the Happiness Project

Making new resolutions is one of life's greatest pleasures. Reading a whole book about someone else making resolutions and then sticking to them is as uniquely satisfying as peeling a hardboiled egg and getting really big pieces of shell off all in one go.

As a rule, I'm vehemently against self help books because - ugh, gross. As I started the Happiness Project I was struck with a fear that I was delving into a genre that I had no interest in delving into. Would I be Zig Ziglar-ed in mere months? How long before Rich Dad, Poor Dad? When would I Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway? The book is not an easy one to miss because of it's bright blue cover and I felt a little embarrassed carrying it around - while I was reading the book in public I held the book flat on the table so that nosy people couldn't see what I was reading. Of course, I don't think anyone is as nosy and as judgemental about people's reading choices as I am so this may have been a rather paranoid precaution, and it did make reading in some situations rather awkward. Vanity.


On the flipside to my abhorrence of self help books is my addiction to positivity/decluttering/life tips blogs, and generally making resolutions and challenging myself to stick to them. Really, the Happiness Project is just a padded out version of the blog with a better background story, a hard cover and a wrapper. I know that Katherine read a few chapters and decided that she hated it, and there is something disgruntling about the fact that the author Gretchen Rubin really does appear to Have so much. How much would I love to be a full time writer in New York with no financial worries? She addresses this a lot throughout the book - and acknowledges that really she has no reason to be unhappy.

The project, then, is less an attempt to rescue herself from the depths of despair then to research what it means to be happy and to apply those ideas to her own life. I'm all up for that - I think an ambient dissatisfaction kind of characterises much of the life that people live today, and as I strive for contentment I certainly see parallels with much that is discussed in the book. I usually try to keep away from the word 'happy' as I see my own 'happy' as a kind of delirious high with an opposite and equally delirious low. However I think that the ideas of happiness discussed in The Happiness Project are about being content with yourself and your life, and learning to be able to be happy within your own frameworks, rather than striving towards HAPPY! as a kind of ultimate goal. I like that.

Every few chapters I read encouraged me to feel Inspired to Do Good Things and make Positive Changes. I woke up this morning and decided I was going to reframe things as positively as possible - nauseating to be sure, but Gretchen advises us to act the way you want to feel. This is pretty much one of the most ghastly things to hear when you're depressed (oh and people say it!) but when it's within your power to make that decision, it can be very powerful. I know it to be true. Making an effort to be cheerful when you're feeling like crap is a sure fire way to up your cheerfulness quotient.

And now for some kind of conclusion:
I think that ultimately this book is for people who already like that kind of thing. The writing is perfectly adequate but is unlikely to hold interest for it's own sake. The book follows a basic chronological structure with a short conclusion and there isn't a great deal of plot to get you fired up.

I didn't love it, but it gave me lots to think about, and I'll add it to my own happiness arsenal I think.