Singin' and Runnin'

I have been really happy lately.
Like unexpectedly, out of nowhere happy.

Not that I was necessarily unhappy before. But you know, you're living life day to day and life is good, it's fine, but maybe not sunshine-bursting-out-of-you-happiness.

Anyway, I've been thinking about where are all of this happiness is coming from, and I'm blaming two things: singing and running.

I joined the choir at my church last month. I can not explain how much I love singing with this group. Clearly, I've always loved to sing, but this is more than that. Maybe it's partly because it's challenging, partly because it's a beautiful blending of the different voices, partly because it's in praise of the King of Majesty, and partly because it's just fun. I'm not sure why I never joined before, except that I maybe thought choir was for old people. No more of that nonsense thinking. Just happiness and singing.

Second, I've been back on track with running for almost three weeks now. After taking most of the summer off from running and then struggling to stick with my running work outs for a month or two, it feels good to be back. If you've ever read this blog before you might remember that I have sort of a love-hate relationship with running. Let me assure you that putting running as one of the reasons for my bursting happiness does NOT mean that I now love running. On the contrary, I still dread each run, and it is still hard, physically and mentally, for me. Almost every step I take, I'm convincing or tricking myself into continuing to run. But I've been really lucky (?) the last three weeks in that I have completed each work out exactly when I've set out to do it exactly how I've meant to do it. And that sense of accomplishment, combined with the endorphins released while running, have been contributing factors to the happiness.

So that's my current recipe for happiness. What's been making you happy lately?