What I learned from the #100HappyDays Challenge

A couple of years ago, I was (admittedly) in a crappy place. Long-term relationship broken up, practically alone in a foreign country, and even though days were filled with partying and new adventures every day, I felt like I desperately needed to learn how to be happy again.

By myself, with no other external contributors.

Photo by Brandon Wong on Unsplash

I found the #100happydays through my sister. She started posting these random photos in Instagram at a time that hashtags were not so popular. I noticed the #100happydays one. And went to figure out what it was.

I arrived to this webpage: http://100happydays.com/

And it read “Can you be happy for 100 days in a row?”

“Such a simple concept!”, I thought, and yet, could I even keep up with it? 100 Days? But the idea remained — It could be quite interesting. I created an Instagram account and started to record my happy moments of the day.

So, to help you understand — Say that again?

The #100happydays consists of posting a photo every day, of anyone or anything of your choosing, having only one rule: It has to be a photo of something/someone that made you happy that day. (It could be also a representation of a happy moment!)

Sounds simple, right?

Wrong!

So hard, in fact, that I found myself wondering around my bedroom at 23:55 realising that I did not have any photo for the current day. What did that mean? Was I not happy for a single second during the whole day?

The #100DaysChallenge is not about the photos (Although, you will get a pretty cool album/Instagram feed in the end); It’s about you understanding what truly, deeply, makes YOU happy.

This mostly helped me to realize that even the crappiest of days, always ended up having something to make me happier. Additionally: If there wasn’t one I would make one.

And that’s when my big revelation arrived: I realized I could always find something, or come up with something, to make me happy, in any given day. (Well, OK, for at least 100 days, I could.)

Even in the most boring, depressing, sad of the 100 days that made up my 100 days challenge… I made it until the very very end! — And we are talking about feverish days, a broken wrist and very very gloomy weather during the first months living in another country!

The #100HappyDays challenge taught me the most import thing, through a very practical and personal project I took on from the beginning until the very end: We are responsible for our own emotions. We are responsible for our happiness… Or our misery. It’s all about us. How much we challenge, or are prepared to challenge ourselves, to be happy.

Other revelations — What truly makes you happy

When I looked into other people’s challenges I realized something else: Everyone’s #100Happydays will be not only totally different from someone else’s, but also a very interesting personal revelation!

For example: I realised that my most happy days constantly involved: Food, music, and hanging out with friends.

This was indeed what made me most happy at the time — And I’m also sure that if I would do it nowadays, the final pictures would be quite different.

So, if you are somewhat curious about, what truly makes me happy?, I would absolutely recommend this challenge to you.

It’s not always going to be easy.

But the things that are truly worth it, they never are.