Things That Make You Happy

Kristyn Meyer is on a journey to make herself the best human that she can be. These posts are a reflection of that. She welcomes your support via reading and through commissioned affiliate links within her posts! To stay up to date on all of her shenanigans, please subscribe to her email list! (psst…there’s a free gift involved)

Things That Make You Happy

I’m tired of being bummed. Tired of feeling frustrated, upset, anxious, depressed. Pretty much you could insert any negative adjective here and I have felt it. This coronavirus quarantine stay-at-home order has been rough.

So I’m changing my mindset. For myself and everyone around me. I can’t think negatively anymore, and I can’t be sad any more. I’m tired of feeling those things.

I want to feel happy. And I want things that make you happy to be a normal part of my life again.

When you turn to Google to solve your life issues (like I frequently do), you get a lot of varied results. For example, when I search: “Things That Make You Happy” I get a wide variety of responses, most of which are emotion, positive thinking focused. Which in theory is a solid response, but right now I want something else. I want distraction and fun and something that’s going to capture my interest. What I want, is something that will truly make me happy without much effort.

So I made my own list. A list comprised of things that I have discovered during quarantine that have brought me joy when I needed it. Obviously, these are things that I have personally sought out, therefore they are specific to me. But who knows? Maybe something from this list will bring joy to someone else as well.

DUOLINGO:

Je m’appelle Kristyn. Je vais très bien, et toi? J’habite au Michigan avec mon mari et mes enfants. Son nom est Jacob et il travaille à l’hôpital. je travaille à la maison. Nous avons aussi un chien.

About 2.5 weeks of work right there! Your girl is speaking French! Crossing bucket list items off! And doing damn good at it too, I might add. This site is free and addicting. I think it’s better than Rosetta Stone, personally. When I used that in the past I didn’t think it was as effective as what Duolingo is. There’s an ongoing competition that accounts for who has logged the most minutes, and of course that speaks well to me. Then there’s stories and podcasts and all sorts of things to accompany the daily lessons. I really like it! Try it out here! Parle français avec moi!

OUTSCHOOL:

If I am learning French, might as well have the kids learn too! I found some children’s French lessons on Outschool. I signed my daughter up for a class and she really liked it! So we’ve been doing a new one every two weeks. Outschool has a bunch of different classes, not just French, so you aren’t limited to that if you want to try it out for your own kiddos.

If you sign up through this link, you will get a $20 credit towards classes (each class is around $7) and we will get a $20 credit towards our daughter’s lessons.

BEAUTY PIE:

Months ago I listened to this podcast from the creator of Beauty Pie. She’s the same person who started up Bliss and Soap & Glory. She knows, from her work in the beauty industry, the legit cost of making the high priced cosmetics that are on the market. She actually told a story about how she traveled somewhere and forgot face moisturizer. I think it was in southeast Asia, so very humid. She knew she would suffer without it so she stopped into a duty free shop to pick some up before leaving the airport. But when she saw the prices she couldn’t bring herself to buy any. This woman has created several successful brands and sold them – she’s not short on cash. But she knew how much it actually cost to make them and couldn’t bring herself to pay the crazy amount they were asking. So she went without instead!

The she decided to start Beauty Pie. She works with the manufacturers to create products very similar to the high end ones that you see in Ulta or Sephora. Then she cuts out the middleman and sells them on her website with a small monthly membership fee. The overall cost is much, much cheaper for the customer.

I tried it for the first time this month. Everything that I got I would have easily paid upwards of $200 for in one of the aforementioned stores. With shipping, I paid $44 at Beauty Pie. And I am crazy impressed with the quality of what I received. I got face washing cloths, foundation, bronzer, mascara and face wash. Since it was delivered I have tried all of it out, and can’t believe I paid the amounts that I once did. Everyone should check it out!

If you would like a free month of Beauty Pie, sign up through this link!

BIG LITTLE LIES:

If anything, this time off has shown me that it is possible to sit and watch a TV show without multi-tasking. I am forever choosing what I view based on if I can get a gist of what is going on in the show while simultaneously working on my blog or checking social media. Time just never seems to be on my side, so I don’t want to devote all of my attention on just one thing.

But it is pretty nice to take the time to do just that. And when you have a TV show that demands you to focus because it’s so detailed, you don’t have a choice. Big Little Lies is definitely that. It’s two seasons, 14 episodes total. It has a lot of big name actresses like Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern. It’s crazy, twisted and intense. And for 14 episodes I was completely engaged and my mind was preoccupied.

JUSTIN’S CINNAMON ALMOND BUTTER:

I hate peanut butter. It always looks so good, and I always want to like it. But I just can’t. The taste is not appealing to me. Years ago a friend brought me a bunch of almond butter samples to try, but my obstinance got in the way. I didn’t want to like it, so I basically didn’t give it a chance.

When quarantining started, I was at the store getting supplies for the time at home and I saw the individual packets of almond butter. I decided to give them a try again. One of the packets was the cinnamon kind and OMG. I am in love. A million times over.

My breakfasts have since consisted of a cinnamon almond butter and jam sandwich. I get so excited to eat it every morning. Pathetic? Yes. Do I care? No. I am in love.

If you want to contribute to the cause, feel free to send me a jar! You will earn the title of favorite person until the end of time. It’s a big honor.

AMAZON WISHLIST GROUPS:

The principle of this is a bit bizarre, so bear with me. But a friend invited me to one of the Amazon Wishlist Groups that she was a part of. Before the invite I had never even heard of them. But essentially, it’s a group where they “bless” one another from the wishlists that they have created. Not all of it is based on need, most of it is just to be able to get something fun in the mail. There’s no obligation to purchase a set amount or even at all, but it becomes really addicting to bless others.

Most people will just dismiss the idea and acknowledge that they can just purchase the items for themselves instead of others doing it for them. And this is definitely true, but getting something in the mail because someone else was thinking about you is really exciting and touching, and can definitely turn someone’s day around.

IBOTTA:

I used Ibotta a few years ago, but had fallen away from it. Couponing in general takes time, and I didn’t have a ton of that. With being at home more, I have had more opportunities to plan my shopping trips strategically (and have needed to with all that is going on!). Implementing coupons and Ibotta has saved my family quite a bit in the past month. With the Ibotta rebates alone, we have gotten $41 back through Paypal. Saving money makes me happy, and seeing how much I can save is fun for me. It’s almost like a game…with myself lol.

Join my Ibotta team through this link! You earn more towards your rebate amount when your team members earn!

UDEMY:

I was supposed to attend the Erma Bombeck Writing Conference this past month, and I was totally and completely devastated when it was canceled. Learning is something that I am constantly doing, I feel like there is always room for improvement – in all areas of life. I happened to stumble across a sale that Udemy was having on some of their courses and signed up for one. And then another. They are great, learn on your own time classes that you can take on pretty much any subject. Right now I am doing a blogging class, before it was on personal branding. There is so much out there, and it is great when you can take a class on pretty much anything. And they are always running sales where you can buy a course for right around $10!

Check out all of the different options here!

LOCAL RESTAURANTS/STORES:

When all of this started, we wanted to make an effort to support our local businesses as much as we could. And I have to say, we thought we were helping them, but really they were taking care of us. I am beyond impressed with the ways that our small, local businesses have been there to help us – with things that seem trivial as they compare to everything going on in the world. For instance, our children’s swing set has this red double swing that attaches. But we haven’t had a S hook to put it on. Our daughter has been asking and asking to have it put up so she could use it. Finally, I messaged our local hardware store. They had what we needed, called us to get our credit card info and packaged it up for curbside pickup. Our local bakery is also making my son’s birthday cake. He turns three during the stay at home order, and when I asked him what he wanted he said a “vanilla letters cake”. So our local bakery is making just that for him, a vanilla cake with the alphabet on it.

In the grand scheme of things, is a S hook and personal birthday cake a necessity during these times? No. But does it help make the situation a bit better? Absolutely.

SOCIAL DISTANCE VISITS:

Last week we couldn’t take it anymore. We needed to socialize face to face with people that we missed. We went on a car ride and had some social distance visits. As we stayed in the car, our friends and loved ones stayed outside of the vehicle several feet away. You can FaceTime all you want, but sometimes you just need to be in the presence of the people you care about. I came away from these visits feeling much happier than I had before. It was a wonderful distraction from everything going on around us.

What have you done lately that has brought you joy and happiness? Share them with us in the comments!