Little Decisions

It's the little things that make life worth living.

Do you know what makes me happiest?
Long bike rides. Short walks. Cold ice cream on hot days. Playing with little kids. Watching a sunset from a deck while drinking ice tea. Snowboarding. Swimming. Exercising. Free time. Getting adequate sleep. Having nothing pressing that needs to be done.

There's nothing really big or expensive or difficult about any of those things (excluding an snowboarding vacation to Colorado). My life would be amazingly satisfactory with all those little things. Now, I don't want to limit myself to merely satisfactory, but all things considered, if satisfactory is where my life ends up, I'm ok with that. And its just the little decisions that lead to these tiny outbreaks of happiness. Going for a walk. Not expensive. Not difficult. Not really time consuming. All it takes is a little decision and, voila, life is good.

I've been caught up on the big decisions lately, at the expense of the little decisions. Both have their place, but I've focussed on one set to the neglect of the other. I've also allowed some of the big decisions interfere with some of the little decisions, at the expense of my happiness. I'm going to change that in the near future.

Disclaimer:
-Not all big decisions are negative and not all small decisions are positive. I know that. I've just been focussing on the wrong types of each lately.
-Happiness, in and of itself, is hollow. Making decisions solely for the benefit of my happiness is like trying to live off cotton candy the rest of your life. It's not as good as you may think.

Here's some of my little decisions.

I will never ever sacrifice all my free time for the sake of people, places and things. As an introvert it absolutely saps me of all my energy and renders my ability to derive happiness from those things void.

I will go to bed earlier. (Probably the easiest thing on the list.)

I will swim more regularly.

I will exercise more regularly.

I will only play in one sports league at a time, if at all.

If I decided to undertake major renovations, I will contract the whole thing out.

In the battle between free time and money, free time wins 99% of the time.

I will ride my bike more regularly.

I will not procrastinate. (This one is so hard for me)

I will read more.

I will pray more.

I will sit and do nothing more.

I will learn to dance. (Conquering my fears one at a time)

I will spend more time with God.

I will have at least one night a week free from all commitments (starting in the Fall when I finish up some of my other commitments)

That's probably good enough for now. As I accomplish those things I'll add new goals to the list.