Balance.

Smile.
Make a handcrafted gift for a faraway friend.
Dive into your closet to style new outfits out of old clothes.
Make a ridiculously good playlist, then relish in its awesomeness.
Take a killer workout class.
Learn a new skill.
Practice your creativity: writing, crafting, photographing.
Drink a Diet Coke.
Read for pleasure. Or for new ideas.
Do something that reminds you of home.

Whatever it is that makes you happy, take time to inject it into your day. Disclaimer: I'm as guilty of this as anyone. With the NBA season well underway, it's easy for me to get into the daily grind of work, work, and more work.

It seems like whenever life gets busy, excuses creep in and balance slips out. When balance slips out, happiness soon follows.

When I was back in So Dak for a belated Christmas, I had time to step back from the reality of life and finally breathe. During some soul searching, I realized my balance was slowly slipping away and I needed to reclaim it. I needed to identify things that I could feasibly make time for each day and slowly incorporate them back into my routine. Now, after a few weeks of doing this, I've found great success (yes, that's meant to be said in a Borat accent).

Some days, I can only squeeze in a few minutes (funny how a quick trip to Caribou Coffee reminds me of home).
Some days, I can set aside 30 minutes (diving into a new marketing blog? Yes please!)
Some days, I can chunk out a few hours (cue the anger-releasing, sweaty mess known as kickboxing).

Next on the "Happiness To-Do" list? Crafting. With Valentine's Day around the corner, I plan to get my creative juices flowing and create some scrapbook-inspired cards. Pink gingham, red hearts, and one-liners, oh my!

It's easy to get stuck in a rut. We live in a "go, go, go!" world so it's hard to take your foot off the accelerator. But if we don't enjoy the things that make life great, what's the point of each day? So take time each day to do something for you. If you need to, make a list or actually block out time in your schedule. Just do it. You'll thank me for it later. And if what I said doesn't work, I'll drag you with me to Caribou and pay for a Caramel Northern Lite Latte (Moosed, duh) because everyone knows that's basically a smile in a cup. Cheers!