Different Perspective on Family - My true happiness

I came across this article, "For parents, sacrifice is living the dream" today while the babe was napping.   It is about how living day-to-day family life really is many peoples ultimate dream - but it gets overlooked.  It really made me think about "sacrifices" and "family" from a different perspective.  I seem to focus a lot on the negative: I don't get sleep, I don't have time to myself, I get frustrated, I miss my husband and I having alone time, etc.

I have been trying recently to focus on the positive.  Focus on a new thing that makes me happy.  But does it have to be something new?

In the book, "The Happiness Project", she suggests in order to find what makes you happy, you should look back to what made you happy when you were 10 years old.  Funny enough the article I read today, and the book's theme actually tie very closely together for me.

What did I LOVE when I was 10?  I loved being around my best friend, acting like I had a grown-up job, being a mommy of my "babies" (dolls), being creative, building things and being loved by/doing stuff with my family (game night, family dinners, etc).  I didn't have any great hobby that gave me an "a-ha!" moment.    I wasn't a stamp collector or love reading mystery novels - or anything that I could apply to a new hobby.  In reality, I realized I am living my 10 year old dream.  My day-to-day life is and should be my biggest source of happiness.

I do laugh a lot with my daughter and husband, I get to be creative (our newest game is pretending a moose is chasing us and hiding under a blanket), we build things (hello? legos!), my husband is my best friend (and how lucky am I to say that?), I take care of my baby every day and we have family moments all the time!

This made me think, just because I am a mom, it doesn't mean I am giving up a piece of me.  I am indulging myself in my biggest dream and accomplishing my ultimate goal.  It isn't easy all the time - but what "thing" in life is rewarding without being challenging?

I feel like I have a new way to look at things. A way that makes me feel like my day-to-day life is actually making me very happy - not breaking down a piece of me....  Let's see if I can incorporate this perspective more actively and continue to see things in this positive way...