#OneHundredHappyDays

Have you heard of this?

In a nutshell, people sign up through the 100 Happy Days website and commit to posting something happy-related online via their social media accounts for 100 days in a row.

How Can People not Have Time to Be Happy?

How hard could it be? It takes only a few seconds to write up a social media post and add a hashtag. Apparently it is rather difficult. According to the website:

71% of people tried to complete this challenge, but failed quoting lack of time as the main reason. These people simpy [sic] did not have time to be happy. Do you?

What losers! Honestly, who doesn't have time to post something happy to social media? There are more people using social media than ever before.

According to a new eMarketer report, “Worldwide Social Network Users: 2013 Forecast and Comparative Estimates,” nearly one in four people worldwide will use social networks in 2013. The number of social network users around the world will rise from 1.47 billion in 2012 to 1.73 billion this year, an 18% increase. (Jun 18, 2013)

Am I too Busy to Be Happy?

Having nothing to lose, I threw my hat into the #OneHundredHappyDays ring and hit the ground running. I had so much to be happy about! But then I forgot to post one day. Then I missed another day. Then I missed a few days in a row -- despite being on social media every flipping day!

How did this happen? Was I one of the 71% who were too busy to be happy? Or was it something else? Something like:

• having two teenagers, a husband, four dogs, a pair of geckos, and a turtle who demand my time and attention
• working an average of 11.5 hour days between freelance writing, my writing projects, and our family's business
• being distracted by all the other crap cluttering my news feed on every one of those social media accounts

Ding Ding Ding! We Have a Winner!

I'm not too busy to be happy at all. I'm just too distracted to brag about it. I fire up social media and ADD kicks in full force. What started off as an intention to share a bit of happiness turns into my community's group page, news feed, BuzzFeed, trending news, CollegeHumor, dale a tu cuerpo alegria Macarena!

Between the junk in our newsfeeds and networks like Facebook making it more difficult to follow the people and organizations that matter to us, is it any wonder that I (along with 71% of the others who signed up for the challenge) failed to create #OneHundredHappyDays?

100 Happy Days? Challenge Denied!

I love a good challenge, so I think someday I'll try again. Not right now, though. Right now I have more important things to do, like watch a movie with my family or research something for my next book.

Have you ever tried the challenge? Did you succeed? Or were you too busy or distracted to keep up with posting for one hundred days in a row? I'd love to hear about your experience (as well as the things that make you happy) in the comments below!