I have a bad habit that I’m just discovering…procrastination. As a librarian, my thing is research. When I want to take on a new project or learn something new I collect information. I read books, look for articles relating to the topic and watch Youtube videos. I get completely overwhelmed.

Instead of just jumping in and “doing” and learning along the way, I feel like I need to learn everything I can about something before I start. As a result I either never start or waste vast amounts of time researching. This is not living and this does not make me happy.

When I think about why I procrastinate, the following reasons come to mind…my inability to make decisions, the extent of the information I need to learn and my desire to be perfect at everything I do. Guess what? I don’t need to be perfect and it’s okay, and likely better, to learn as I go. I’ll take happiness over perfection any day.

So what am I going to do now that I know that procrastination is keeping me from being happy?

1. I need a plan. I’m not going to spend hours researching how to make a plan. I’m simply going to create a to-do list and start knocking things off that list.
2. I need to not over research things and just “do”.
3. I need to set goals. Short term ones and long term ones.

I started this morning. Several weeks ago I bought a new copy of Lightroom 6. It has been installed but my photos were on an external hard drive and unorganized. I needed to copy the photos onto another drive and set up my Lightroom catalogue again. For some reason, until that is done I feel like I can’t do other things. The drive was copied today…the catalogue will be set up tonight.

I think that now I’m aware that I’m a procrastinator, I will be able to recognize it when it’s happening, and do something about it.

What do you do when you’re almost fifty and find yourself single again and a new home owner? Apparently re-open your Etsy shop, start a new blog and do anything you can possibly think of that makes you happy.

2015 was a year of change for me. My marriage ended and I bought a new house. I spent most of my free time re-discovering who I am again by reading books and doing the things I love. I spent hours researching happiness and I decided it was time to be happy again. When I thought about what would makes me happy, I kept coming back to my Etsy shop and my blog. Both are things that I truly love doing and had neglected for years.

Fortunately, my new home provides me with the perfect space for a sewing studio, a place I where can smile and be creative. I was once again inspired to sew and that led to the re-opening (and renaming) my new and improved Etsy Shop, Lucky Button Creations.

Once the Etsy shop was open for business, I knew that I needed to create a blog…a place where I could share my sewing projects, photography and keep a record of my happiness journey.

And here we are. My very first blog post on my new blog. My plan is to share stories about happiness and the things that make me happy and hopefully make someone smile among the way.