Peanut Butter Happy Jar: One Year Later

by - 3:00 PM


Sometimes life is shit. You're failing your classes, your friends don't have time for you and you can't do anything right at home. Before you know it you're hating on everything. Before you know it you're stuck with a negative mindset. Since I'm easily sucked into these downwards spirals of negativity, I decided to start a Happy Jar to remind me of all the good and fun things in my life. One year ago I put the first happy memories in it. Now, in 2017, I'm a bit stuck in my negative mindset. It's time to open my Happy Jar and snap out of it.


I first heard of Happy Jars when I'd only just started blogging. Coincidentally I got a jar of peanut butter that Christmas, so when all the peanut butter was gone it became my Peanut Butter Happy Jar. Since I've started anew in January of 2016, I've collected this heap of memories.
I fold them all into half, then into half again. That way I never know which memory I'm going to look at when I take one out. It's great to let a happy memory take you by surprise.
I write my happy memories in Dutch, which is actually quite weird for me since I usually write in English. Because of this switch in language it'd be pointless to share some pictures, but here are the translations of a few of my favorite memories.
10 January 2016: Had cheesecake. Nuff said
1 November 2016: Got my first paycheck ever!
4 January 2017: Talked to Shubhaish on Skype :D
I usually don't write more than a few words, a few lines at the very most. I don't need more than those few words for the memories to come rushing back to me. Because of this the scraps of paper in my Happy Jar are very small. The few pieces that are bigger are these.
Some quotes stick with me, though I'm not as much of a quote person as most other bloggers. Yet sometimes a few words motivate me to no end. When that happens I try to make them look fancy. Whereas the memories bring me happiness, the quotes give me motivation.
Since December I've also been adding pictures to the mix. Pictures capture moments better than my words ever could, which is why I started adding them to my Happy Jar.
Most of the pictures are selfies Jerneja and I took when we met up in Slovenia. I've also added a picture of my high school friend and me from when we went to see Bill Bailey in Amsterdam back in September. My happiest memories always have something to do with the people I care most about.
Then there's one last thing left in my Happy Jar. They're the most recent additions: tweets. That may sound silly to some of you, I know. But sometimes when someone tweets me a compliment or quotes my tweet, I just feel so happy and appreciated. It would make no sense to keep the tweets away from my Happy Jar. They make it so much more diverse and personal.

Once I've gone through all the items in my Happy Jar, I always find myself smiling. No matter how bad my day, my week or even my month is, the memories and pictures in the jar always make me happy again. A year from now I hope I can open my Happy Jar to many many more happy memories and share them with you guys again.

x Envy

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25 Fellow Ramblers

  1. AHHHHHHHHHH I love this!!! I love how you've done pictures and quotes too! I do this too except I pick the best part of my week and write it down and pop it in the jar! X

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    1. Maybe I should start doing that too, because when I'm really happy I'm so busy being happy that I forget to write something down or print something XD

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  2. What a lovely positive idea!!! Might have to give this a go xo
    www.clairelouiisexo.wordpress.com

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    1. I hope you do, it really makes the bad days a little bit better :)

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  3. This is such a great idea. Thank you for sharing this with is, I like the idea of putting in tweets :)

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    1. Thank you! I figured tweets belonged there, since a tweet from one of your favorite people can mean the world on bad days :)

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  4. Oh my god this is such a cute idea! ❤️ Thanks for sharing, definitely going to start something similar soon x

    Oksana
    http://i-am-ok26.blogspot.com

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    1. Glad to hear you like the idea! I'm looking forward to seeing what yours'd turn out to be like :)

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  5. I absolutly love this idea. My partner and I were going to start one for our milestones and memories x
    Lola Mia // www.lolitabonita.co.uk

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    1. Aww that's so cute! I wish I had a partner to do such things with!

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  6. Awww I absolutely love this idea!! I'm definitely going to start a jar!
    PaleGirlRambling xo

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  7. This is such a lovely idea. I need to give this a go myself!

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    1. Good luck! It feels so good to see your jar filled up with happy memories :)

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  8. Ah I love this so much. This is such a neat idea. I sort of save happy moments by writing them in my journal, but I like this idea a lot too. Maybe I could somehow incorporate both.....Lovely post Envy!

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    1. I'm sure there's a way to incorporate both. You're so creative, you'll probably find a way that makes everyone's jaw drop ;)

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  9. I absolutely love this idea! Totally gonna start one when I get back to school!
    Much love for this and you!
    xx
    Stephanie
    strictlystephanie.blogspot.com

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    1. Aww thank you! School is definitely a good moment to start one of these. During my vacations I fill it up but never look at the content. When I'm at college there's barely anything to add and I get to look back at all my happy moments :)

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  10. I'm so doing this! And I'd like to skype someday you're free. :)

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    1. Awesome! I'm not much of a Skype person anymore, but there must be another platform we can use :)

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  11. Oh my god that's meeeeee in the photos! :D
    I do something similar in my journal, every day I write something positive that made me happy that day, so I can look back on it when I have a bad day/week/month

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    1. Yes it's yooouuuuu! :D
      Your journal must be such a positive journal then! I tried to do it on a daily basis, but it didn't work for me... I just make a mental note now :)

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  12. I absolutely love this idea, and the variety of things that you have included! Happiness can come from so many different areas, from interactions on twitter, from looking at old photos, and writing down memories, and you've encapsulated all of those in your peanut butter jar! this has really inspired me to create happiness jar of my own, as I'm sure that looking back on it in future years would bring me such joy!

    Abbey 😘 www.abbeylouisarose.co.uk

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    1. I hope your Happy Jar will make you as happy as mine makes me :) At first I only put pieces of paper with written memories on them in the jar, but like you said, happiness comes from so many different things. I felt like many of those weren't included when I started. Now my Happy Jar is much more complete :)

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  13. This is a fantastic idea! I think I might steal it :)
    Cora x http://www.teapartyprincess.co.uk/

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