“Has Done Wonders For My Mental Health”: 45 Small Life Changes That Made People Happier

This seems like a major thing to me but congratulations & I hope you both enjoy many more enjoyable days together

Companionship and love so precious. Everyone should have the right to them!

Better late than never. Everybody had the right to be happy!

I didn't realize that I'm bi until my 30's. It's never too late to find things about your self!

Love that for you!!

I need a friend like this. My bestie was not intelligent and it left me yearning for a place to discuss things.

And I am so very happy for you too!

Good for you

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After reading this I’m guessing the intelligent part isn’t something you both share.

When someone annoys my husband or I in public (cut off in traffic, etc) we always say, "maybe they just found out their kid has cancer." Sounds morbid, but it puts into perspective that we don't know what is going on in their life.

As someone who started doing this a long time ago, I can say that I live with a lot less anger in my life. My friend once told me they loved being around me so much because they feel like they could be themselves and I wouldn’t judge :) But also, it’s important to remember that knowing why someone did something doesn’t exactly justify what they’re doing, it just helps you understand why they did that. Like someone bullying another person isn’t okay, but you may be able to understand and support them better knowing why they did that, like if they were being bullied as well, instead of just writing them off as just mean in your head.

I am trying to do the same. I watch my daughter who never says a bad word about anybody, well at least not verty often, and I am learning from her

It's strange how doing something for another's benefit can be good for you

I think females are socialized to compete. Putting in the conscious effort to appreciate other people's traits/achievements has made me a much happier person and much better friend. I need to work on extending that grace to strangers when they make mistakes.

We live in a society based on capitalism. That means, you have nothing to gain from working but money. Everything else is BS. Some rich entrepreneurs will tell you they hustled their way to wealth, but is you look closer, you'll always see they didn't do so by hustling a corporate job. They were hustling freelance or while already working on their own project, jumping ship regularly for better opportunities. None of them had that kind of 'loyalty' to any company they try to sell to you and most of them came from quite different backgrounds. You can't rise through the ranks with doing things for free unless you can afford it by having rich parents. None of them build their own companies without a high dose of good fortune. Often the chances they've used are so limited that on one successful millionaire come thousands of people who couldn't make it despite working just as hard. To have success, you'll always need to have a clearly defined opportunity and payout, not a carrot on a stick.

Germans are nodding and saying "But of course!"

Yes! Businesses are calling this quiet quitting, which is garbage. It's reclaiming time work never should have had. Love this!

I vowed to do this when I moved into my current apartment last February. It was to be part of what I called my "Happy Home" concept. Unfortunately, I have long sinced relapsed into my old way of procrastination, but I want to make another effort into routinely (read: daily) tidying the kitchen. Seeing it clean and ready, whether you wake up or come home from work, was/is so nice...

I never prepare a big meal in the evening so that I won't have a lot of stuff to wash and clean when I'm tired. Either I prepare something that can be reheated later, or a salad, something that only needs a bowl or a plate. I'm a clean but untidy person, and I've been working on trying to be more tidy. It's such a big difference!

I can't sleep with a sink full of dishes. Fortunately for me, washing dishes is rather cathartic.

I always100% follow this rule.

I need to be better about this.

Having an animal companion helps me stay tethered, as I'm not just making decisions that affect my life, but they need to be healthy ones so I can be around for the most adorable little dude I know.

I rescued my first dog seven years ago, and somehow he rescued me, too. Now I foster dogs and cats, too. They are the reason why I'm still here. They are my anchor. People think I save them, but they actually save me, every single time.

If not for my dogs, I wouldn't even get out of bed in the morning. Some days I want to stay in bed and just do nothing. Not possible with dogs.

Whenever I go on a walk with my doggo early in the morning it starts with muttetring "I hate this, why do I have to wake up this early blrhghg" and after around 1 minute I just start smiling seeing how happy she is

My Boxer is such a joy.

If I read, I will stay up so late. I will not be able to stop reading. It's always just one more chapter. I avoid reading before bed for that reason. If I put on tv, I doze almost immediately. I have what I call my nighttime shows (Psych, Castle, X-Files, IT Crowd, my current show is Friends), and it will take me like a week to get through one episode because I fall asleep so fast and the next night I will have to pick up where I left off.

Reading is a better way to relax before bed then TV

Nope, I found myself reading till 8am and just being a ghost of myself during working time. TV normally makes me sleep.

Never had, or will have, a TV in the bedroom. Not the place for it. And cell phone stays in the LR on the charger. SLEEP is what you do in the bedroom (or, read and 'have fun') hehe

I had to stop doing that because I find it hard to put the book down & go to sleep.

Doing laundry week nights is going to be my new thing so I am not tethered to the washing machine on the weekends.

My buddy is really good about this. He works long hours, goes out a lot, and generally keeps busy but his condo is always really clean. I don't do any of that and my place is a mess so I'm guessing he does one chore a day before he goes to work or after he gets home but before he goes out. Which works for him.

My secret is making my bed. Every day it's one of the first things I do. I have then achieved something. And if I don't achieve anything else, I go to bed comfy and a little proud that I made it. It's effective.

Whether putting away clothes or dishes or whatever, I make a point to put away at least 3 things every time I come in to a room (I used to do it during commercials). I usually end up finishing the job, since the hard part for me is getting started. If I don't finish, well that's 3 fewer things that need to be put away.