Music and Down Time

So, how did my first week go? My first week of being super-dooper, extra happy with all the toppings and a side order of energy?

Well, with that kind of set-up, it went pretty much as you’d imagine. Although I don’t think (really) that I was expecting EVERYTHING to be suddenly wonderful, I did kind of give myself an awful lot to tackle, lots of expectations; and with the run-up to Christmas being so, so good and all the happiness stuff I was reading, I think it was to be expected that I had to crash back to earth sooner or later. And at the weekend I crashed.

Up and at ’em though and after a good cry and a heart to heart with Beloved Husband, I’m having another shot at it. The Happiness Project book (see here if you’re a latecomer, tsk) talks about using a chart to keep yourself accountable and that’s certainly always been one of my motivators. So I’ve done myself 2 charts, one for Resolutions and one for Writing, and I’m starting from this week to use those. And we identified that sleep is such a huge problem for me that I really need to be getting more of it. This is harder than it sounds – obviously I don’t get that much say in it as getting up time is pretty much dictated by the children (just when we’d got Daniel to understand “Stay in bed until 6am” Emily decided that 5.30 was much more fun) and a full, undisturbed night’s sleep is almost unheard of. So the only option is to go to bed early and since I work better later in the day, have things I want to do for myself like writing or reading etc, and it’s a chance for Andrew and I to sit down together, it feels like a big deal to sacrifice that time to sleep. But we’ll give it a go.

On to the other part of the post – music. One thing I keep noticing is how effectively music lifts my mood – even a fairly bad mood becomes slightly less bad when I put some good music on and have a sing and a dance. Whether this makes other people feel better is debatable; although it should be good for a laugh if nothing else because although I can sing ok I’m more like Mr Bean dance-wise than anything else. I thought I’d finish off today’s post by sharing some of the songs I put on my Good Mood Playlist – the ones that really get me dancing and energised more than the others.

Top 5 songs to dance madly to in the kitchen

Jump by Girls Aloud. The old one’s ok  but I like the Girls Aloud one better.

Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen

You Can’t Stop The Beat from Hairspray

I Believe In A Thing Called Love by The Darkness

And finally, a bit of culture-type-stuff – Toréador from Carmen by Bizet.

There’s other stuff on that list too, some musicals, some reflective. I’m in love with Eva Cassidy’s Songbird which somehow I hadn’t heard properly until a few days before Christmas. But those songs are the ones I’d choose if I really need to wake myself up and get a bit of energy.

I also have a little plan, which I will hopefully reveal later in the week but I’ll need help in the form of commenters…