November 2019: Happiness Project Recap

It’s hard to believe that 2019 is almost over, and we are about to enter a brand new decade! Last week, I attended my first holiday event of the season. Since I returned to town from Thanksgiving, my Christmas and Hanukkah decorations have gone up in the apartment. With all of the end-of-year craziness, I’m a little late to share an update to my Happiness Project, but fear not. The recap you’ve all been waiting for is finally here. 🙂

In the month of November, my Happiness Project theme was to Explore, and I certainly did my share of adventuring throughout those 30 days. In case you’re new here at Wellness & Wanderlust, I embarked on a Happiness Project inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s book of the same name for the year 2019. Each month, I choose a different theme and incorporate a few new practices into my life. (Monthly themes for previous months included boosting physical wellness, creating outer order through decluttering, practicing mindfulness, slowing down, making time for friends,  learning constantly, resetting my physical health, taking a digital detox, working smarter, and contemplating the heavens.)

For the month of November, I planned to incorporate the following practices:

• Be a tourist without leaving home.
• Visit my happy place.
• Get my nature fix.
• Create a lifetime bucket list.
• Explore someplace new.

So how did I do? 

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I embarked on quite a few adventures in November. I played tourist with a stop at the Florida/Georgia border, where I visited the visitor center and picked up a free peach chapstick. I made chocolates at Farris & Foster (learn about this experience and other awesome group activities in Orlando here!), stopped by Light Up UCF, went kayaking for the first time in Wekiwa, visited the Indie Market in Sanford, tried a few new coffee shops, and even did a little tourist-ing back home in South Florida!

My happy place is the Sanford Riverwalk, where I love to walk, listen to a podcast, or read a book. With the weather finally cooling down, I made sure to spend some time out there on weekends or days off. Being outside by the water really did contribute to my overall happiness and clarity of mind.

The verdict?

I loved my adventuring theme for the month of November. It was probably the easiest theme for me to incorporate thus far, because by nature I’m often looking for new places to explore and play tourist anyway. I will definitely continue to incorporate this into my life in 2020!

For the month of December, my focus is to Give Back. To do this, I plan to incorporate the following:

• Help a friend.
• Practice random acts of kindness.
• Give back to a cause I believe in.
• Be generous.

What are your goals for December? Have you embarked on a happiness project? Sound off in the comments below!