How To Be Happy #2: Do Something Unexpected

A  few years ago, I realized that I wasn't actively working towards finding my happy in my everyday life. I was too tired, in too much pain (from migraines), to anxious to do anything. I realized that sometimes I need to put more of an effort into trying to put a little "pep in my step"--a little happy in my life.

Over the past few months, I have had a lot going on with my health. My headaches have gotten worse, a new medication that I was taking gave me horrible side effects, and I was completely dreading going to my annual visit to the OB/GYN (sorry if that's TMI!). I recently went to my doctor after trying this new migraine medication for months and not feeling myself for long enough. I've since stopped it and am already starting to feel a little better. I also went to my lady doctor for a visit after getting some suspect results on my annual Pap last year. My doctor told me not to worry. It was most likely a false-positive result, and we'd check it again this year. But--that is not how OCD works. 

My mom had Stage 1 Cervical cancer when I was in college, and, as you can imagine, that sent my OCD into a downward tailspin, spiraling quickly towards earth. At any minute I was ready to crash and have things blow up into the worse-case-scenario possible. I have been a little more sensitive towards illness with my OCD since my dad passed away from a glioblastoma (aggressive brain tumor). In the back of my mind, my OCD pecks, If it could happen to Dad, it could definitely happen to me. It's hard to ignore--that OCD voice. It's not easy, but it's possible.

Long story short, I went back to the doctor, she reassured me that my results were most likely a false positive. We redid the test because of my abnormal results last year. I will get my results next week. I feel much better.

So instead of sitting around and worrying and instead of letting my OCD get the best of my life, I did something different yesterday. My husband called me last night and said that he needed to do something fun. He had a long week and wanted to go out to dinner. My typical OCD self would say, "It's a Wednesday. You can't go out. You need to finish grading. You need to do x, y, and z. Forget it." 

Instead, I didn't think. I just said, "Yes." I wanted to have some fun and go out to dinner.

Grading could wait. I had two huge weights lifted off my shoulder--I was hopefully going to start getting my energy back from stopping my most recent migraine medicine, and I was no longer worried about going to see my doctor. 

So we went out.

So excited to go out with my hubby. I even wore my crab sweater! It makes me happy :)

On the way to dinner, we stopped for these cuties to cross the street! Loved it!

We had a great night at Cooper Hawk's Winery and Restaurant in Kenwood. I've been once before with my sister. It is delicious! The restaurant has a great atmosphere, great wine, food, and service. Bjorn and I enjoyed drinks and great food and just enjoyed each other's company. And not once during dinner did I think about getting something else done. I didn't let my OCD allow me to feel guilty for enjoying myself. 

I totally ordered that delicious Bloody Mary!

Here is my drink of the night complete with local draft beer sidecar. I had eaten the sharp cheddar cheese and blue cheese olive by the time I had taken the picture! Sooo good!

Talk about delicious! These pork belly tostadas were my favorite! They were fresh, salty, and had a nice crunch from the radish and nice creaminess from the avocado. Must try!

After dinner, we decided to stop by Half Price Books since it's right next door. I decided to make our trip a little more interesting, so I created a challenge for us! I decided that we each had to find a movie that the other person hadn't seen. It had to be a movie each of us liked and we each wanted the other person to watch. Then the other person would have to watch the movie of your choice, no complaining!!

There was one small problem that I found with this challenge: Bjorn and I have been together for 15 years. We love watching movies. We have watched so many movies together that we couldn't find any movies that we hadn't seen together!! Hahaha! We were cracking each other up! So we had to stretch our brains way back to our childhoods to finish this challenge! We weren't giving up! So here's what we found:

I had never seen Willow.

And Bjorn had never seen Anchors Away. Hello Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra!

Can't wait to watch these movies together!


Moral of our night out: have more fun nights out. Don't let OCD control my happy. I had so much fun. I need to have more fun.

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Suggestions for future challenges and fun nights out are welcome! Leave a comment below! It's hard sometimes to stump each other!


To read my first How To Be Happy Post about music and dancing, click here.


Love and happiness <3 Holly