A Weekly “What’s Making Me Happy This Week” List
One of the podcasts I regularly listen to is Pop Culture Happy Hour where, in addition to discussing a TV show or movie, they occasionally have a segment called “What’s Making Me Happy This Week.” In this segment, all the panelists — there are usually 3 or 4 — share one thing that is making them happy that week. This can be a book, a song, a podcast … anything really. I found this such a nice concept. And it struck me — I keep coming across things (books, articles, movies, etc.) I really enjoy. Why not make a list of my own?
So, I started creating a weekly list — this was in August 2020. At first, I stuck with the “pop culture” items similar to those on the podcast such as a song, a magazine article, an episode from a TV show, a book, etc. But soon, I started including other things as well, and it became a weekly record of everything that made me happy that week. I now have eight months of weekly records, and it is so nice to be able to go back and refresh my memory about all the good things that happened to me on any week during this time.
In fact, I have found this exercise to be so good for my mental and emotional health that I think everyone should it. You don’t have to be a writer to create a weekly “What’s Making Me Happy This Week” list, and neither does it have to be elaborate — it can be as simple as three to four bullet points that takes less than five minutes to put together. And given that you are doing this only once a week, it is a lot less onerous than say, writing a daily “gratitude journal” that therapists often recommend we do, but which is very hard to keep up, even for those who start.
Of course, a list like this presupposes that there are things that make you happy every week, and some would say that this is not true for them. However, I do not think this is true. We are all human beings with lives that have a mix of joys and sorrows, of trials and triumphs, and of failures and successes just like anyone else — even those who might seem either exceptionally privileged or extremely disadvantaged. Speaking from my own experience as an average person, there are weeks in which my “What’s Making Me Happy This Week” list is long and bountiful, whereas there are weeks in which I am literally “digging for crumbs” as it were, trying very hard to find something to put on my list. But surprisingly, once you start to look for things that make you happy, you will find them. It can be something as simple as a beautiful sunset, a chance encounter, a meaningful connection, something nice that someone said to you, or something good that you did for someone.
While I initially started making my “What’s Making Me Happy This Week” list just for myself, both my kids — who are away from home in college — became intrigued by the idea and started creating their own lists. We now exchange our lists with each other every week, and it is such a great way of bonding, of getting to know what’s going on in each other’s lives. Thus, not only is it good for us individually, it has also brought us closer together as a family.
Really, this is something everyone should do. I think it will go a long way towards making the world a happier place.
