How to Live the Sweet Life

The Sweet Escape is my platform to encourage you to find contentment and enjoy life through sharing our stories, mindset work, and movement. I am passionate about this because I want to break the cycle and patterns and outdated traditions. I want better for my life and my children and their children and for you.

I know that everything I share is common sense. You know what you need to do but it's usually easier said than done. It is easy to get sucked into the hardships, difficulties, stress, and challenges of life. God says "don't worry" yet all we do is worry 🙄 My messaging and classes are just a gentle reminder to keep going. Sometime you need to hear the right thing, at the right time, from the right person for it to click and propel you to make a change, have faith, or try again.

Recently, I lead a virtual workshop about living a "Happy Life" so I wanted to share my thoughts about the topic here!

What a Happy Life is Not:

1. A perfect life - Always having: enough money, clean beautiful house, good kids, great job, spouse, hood health,, etc.
2. Gaslighting - Walking around like Mary freaking sunshine not feeling your feelings, addressing issues, lying to yourself/others, etc. (Toxic Positivity)
3. People Pleasing - Doing things to make others happy. I'm all about serving others but not at the expense of your own sanity.
4. Materialistic - Having everything you ever wanted - the house, the kids, the car, thr clothes, the money - even if you have it all you can still be unsatisfied because joy comes from within! Once you figure that out you will have everything you ever need.
5. Comparison - Judgement for yourself or others. Let it go. Accept yourself and others as they are, where they are and love them anyway.

What a Happy Life is to Me

1. Finding contentment in and through every circumstance.
2. Appreciating what you have.
3. Looking on the bright side.
4. Feeling all of your feeling.
5. Slowing down. Breathing. Having time. Being present and aware.

How to Achieve a Happy Life

1. Decide to Choose Joy Everyday.
2. Do what you Love - Take and Inventory of what fills your thoughts, time, mind currently. Make a list of how you want to spend your daydreams, time, etc. Brainstorm ways to close or address any gaps. Maybe you can't quit your job but can you slowly incorporate something that will work into your life just as it is now?
3. Express Yourself - Gratitude, affirmations, journal, rage journal, read, surround yourself with good people, limit toxic people. Get. It. Out. Of. Your. Body.
4. Flip the Script - Changing your mindset. You can still have angry/frustrating thoughts and emotions (in fact, you better!) But catch yourself every time. Did that thought serve you? Did you need to have it to release something you were feeling or was it self doubt/criticism creeping in. The thoughts will never stop coming but maybe you can slow them down or stop them before they take over.
5. Fake it - If Positivity doesn't come naturally to you, then fake it til you make it. This is different that ignoring true feelings that need addressed. But do something that will help shake it off when it's time to move on - dance, jump around, smile (might be creepy but just try it ok), go for a walk, feel the sunshine on your face, breathe in deeply and exhale loudly though an open mouth.

Final thoughts

1. Happiness isn't everything (I suppose). Maybe you just want to be rich and miserable, healthy and annoyed, blessed and worried.
2. Whatever is heavy on your heart is figuroutable.
3. Happiness looks different for everyone. So your version of Happy doesn't mean it's someone else's. People are different (surprise 😯)
4. Just because you are angry/frustrated/sad/annoyed/pissed sometimes does not mean you do not have a happy life. You will still have seasons, highs and lows. Just don't stay there please.
5. Joy vs. Happiness - I call it a "happy" life because I feel like it's more universal but I truly mean JOY. A Joyful life. Happiness is more outward facing and surface but joy is the feeling deep down, the baseline for your existence. Examine that, reflect upon it, and make the conscious effort to live Your Joyful Life.

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