Long ago, when I was still a newbie blogger and Teenage Blogger Central had only ten members, I read a post about a Happy Jar. I'd never heard of it Happy Jars before, but the idea of filling a jar with happy thoughts and memories had a certain appeal to me. At that moment I was not very happy with my place in life, a little like now, but in a way much worse. For a while I collected happy memories on scraps of paper, but after I graduated high school I just stopped, forgot about it, didn't have time for it anymore. I didn't need it, I didn't want to write my positive thoughts down, I had a thousand reasons to stop collecting happy moments.
These days I feel like I need a Happy Jar again. On top of the 100 Happy Days Challenge, I put the Happy Jar on my list of goals for 2016. I've always been more comfortable with words than with pictures, so I set out on a mission to capture the happiness of each day in words.

If you want to make a Happy Jar yourself, you only need three things: a pen, paper and of course a jar. A life is a helpful addition too, but I take it you have one. Use it well. Wait, where was I? Right, jars. Some people get themselves a fancy mason jar. Not me. I use a plastic peanut butter jar. A bit anti-climactic, but it's the inside that counts. Apart from that, the jar of peanut butter was a present my dad bought me for Christmas 2012. He has a peculiar taste in presents, but that peanut butter sure was delicious.
When I decided to start filling my Peanut Butter Happy Jar again about a week ago, it was still full of happy memories from 2013 and 2014. Okay, 'happy' might be a bit of a big word, since some of them are now bittersweet. Still I couldn't get rid of them. I put all the happy thoughts in an envelope, which I put in a box under my bed along with all my other high school souvenirs.

I keep the stack that'll soon be like a little 2016 booklet on my desk, where I can't lose them. I'm saying that with a lot of confidence right now, but don't be surprised if you see panicky tweets about how I lost my Happy Jar project halfway through March. I have a talent for losing things.

Behold, the Peanut Butter Happy Jar!

Once I've written a happy thought or memory on each piece of paper, I put them in the good old peanut butter jar. It looks a bit empty now, but soon it'll be filled with happiness :)

Stay Awesome!