Being happy means being nice? Who knew!

Growing up I was always the feisty little sister. As an adult, I’m still the more outspoken of the two of us. The weird part about this is that I’ve become more of an introvert while my sister morphed into the extrovert.

My path to introvertedness has long been underway, but became more noticeable as I made the leap from that “save the world” college student to full-time #DataDiva. I’ve always loved working, but I thought I wanted to be “on the ground” – talking and interacting with the community and being a part of the hands-on implementation of programs. Little did I know, I’d find great happiness (and comfort) in the solitude of number crunching.

As you can see in the graph below, although I’m happy, I’ve still got a few years before I surpass “all the rest of you” to become one of the happiest of nerds.

That being said, I’m always looking for new ways to improve my mood. 😉

While I was scrolling through my bloglovin’ feed this weekend, I ran across a post titled “One Simple Thing Anyone Can Do To Have A Better Day,” I immediately opened the post. Who doesn’t want to learn how to be happier?! PLUS [unlike many others..], they promised I only had to do one thing. Win/win, right?

YES.

According to the post from Tiny Buddha, all you have to do is be nice to people! I loved the situation that Megna described in the post because it’s one we’ve all been in!

As an alumni, I get calls from current USC students who’ve been given the daunting task of soliciting donations. School pride? Yeah, I got that. Extra cash to donate? I don’t always have that. However, I do always have the time to be NICE to these students! I mean, how horrible would it be for that poor undergrad to hang up and fret that one day they’ll become the cynic on the other end of the phone line? Let me tell you young lassies, you have a choice! You too can be a happy [but broke] young professional nerd one day!

And so, I leave you with this:

Author: Jordan Slice-Metcalfe

My name is Jordan. I'm a full-time working mom whose coffee cup is always half full (and probably still in the microwave). I've got a weak spot for rescuing old dogs, pretending pizza is a vegetable, negotiating dessert with every meal, propagating more plants than any home needs, dreaming of sewing projects while my husband is talking to me, and loving my tribe too deep. View all posts by Jordan Slice-Metcalfe