Gretchen Rubin, in The Happiness Project, has an interesting take on the proverb "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" - or its pithier version, "Happy wife, happy life."
Rubin is herself a wife and mother. She believes that this proverb is true (with which I agree). She also argues that because it is true, she has a responsibility to her family to try to be happy. As a result of her happiness project, she made a concerted effort to be less critical when things didn't go as she hoped with her husband and children, and to enjoy more what her family did with and for her.
Rubin says her effort to be pleased paid off for her family as well as for herself.
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2 comments:
I would put it a little differently. Moms have a responsibility to make themselves happy for their families. This means moms need to give ourselves time to do the things we love. We need to let our family know what would make us happy. We need to include our needs and wants in the budget. Adjusting your attitude isn't enough, you have to make things truly positive for you.
Agreed. I think you would enjoy Rubin's Happiness Project, both the book and the blog. She reaches a conclusion similar to yours. She concluded that the biggest contribution to her own happiness was to stop doing the things that made her unhappy and critical. She also added several activities that she actually enjoyed, instead of stress-inducing activities that she thought she should enjoy.
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