What Gretchen Rubin Taught Me About Being A Happy Blogger

        With COVID-19 spreading like a wildfire, we need happiness and positivity more than ever! Luckily, there's an expert we can turn to for all the goodies on being happy! Meet Gretchen Rubin, the best-selling author of The Happiness Project, Happier At Home, Better Than Before, The Four Tendencies, and Outer Order, Inner Calm.

A very pleasing photo of happiness guru Gretchen Rubin

        She also has a podcast Happier, which she does with her sister Elizabeth, along with some workshops, and, like all great authors, a YouTube channel. One of the latest videos on her channel discusses her Eight Splendid Truths of Happiness, a concept she established about a decade ago.

Here's how we can live a happy life as bloggers!

First Splendid Truth: To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right in an atmosphere of growth.

        Life itself is an atmosphere of growth. Looking back, many things have changed. I bet, even a year or two from now, I'll look at this blog post and think about how much I've changed from there. But what's the difference between feeling good and feeling right? It's all about how you act and what you do. As active individuals on the Internet, we also have to be aware of our digital footprint, and do what's right for the growing community of users. This blog is an atmosphere of growth, because over time, I'll have more posts and get more visitors. I'm still not sure when or if I will ever make money from it, it's a public experimentation after all.

Second Splendid Truth: One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy.

        Not everything should be about yourself. In life, you have to care about others. Don't just blog about something only you get. Blog about something that many people will get. Otherwise, it should be blogged about in a way that people will understand, and learn better from it. Inject some jokes, memes, photos of cute kittens. How about relatable anecdotes and well-known examples? Make sure the viewers of your blog are happy, so you are happy.

Third Splendid Truth: The days are long, but the years are short.

         How should I put this? Oh yeah. If you just started blogging, it can feel slow. But seeing all the years that have gone by since you started, it feels...short. Same for everything, really.

Fourth Splendid Truth: You're not happy unless you think you are happy.

        Are you happy? Tell yourself yes and move on.

Fifth Splendid Truth: I can build a happy life only on the foundation of my own nature.

        As a blogger, you have your own values. It's okay to stick to them throughout your blogging journey. You only try to find out what's right for you, what topics you are comfortable blogging about. Does it spark joy, or at least make you happy? Try it for yourself. Be open when you blog.

Sixth Splendid Truth: The only person I can change is myself.

        No one can stop you. It's all in you. The coolest thing about being an individual blogger is that you don't have a boss that dictates what you blog about. So be glad you're free, and that you can get inspiration from anywhere.

Seventh Splendid Truth: I can't make someone be happy, and no one else can't make me happy.

        Again, no one can stop you. You're the only one who can control your happiness. Also, just because a post of yours made someone happy, doesn't mean it makes everyone who reads it happy.

Eighth Splendid Truth: Now is now.

        Don't wait. Make the most of now and write a blog post that you know others will read.

        In our house, we only have one Gretchen Rubin book. That is Better Than Before. I mentioned in my last post that it was where I drew the characteristics of the Four Tendencies from. I've skimmed through this book, as I've done with other self-help and non-fiction books, but the basis of this book is the maintenance of habits. Why not find out which Tendency you are and learn more from this book about how to make and break habits?

Cover of "Better Than Before" by Gretchen Rubin

        Jay Shetty's first book Think Like A Monk is coming soon! Stay tuned for my book recap later this spring...