How to have a HAPPIER new year!

Dear Wonderful Cotillion Students,

Happy Happy New Year! I hope that you had a lovely holiday season and that 2025 is off to a great start!

Last week, we talked about setting goals. Since this is the beginning of January and we have just started our brand new year, I thought we might start the year off by talking about how to increase our happiness in the new year. 

Ladies and gentlemen know that one of the best things about happiness is that they have a lot of control over how happy they are! They know that they can choose to be happy. They can choose to have a positive outlook. They can choose to ‘get into the spirit of the party’ and make the best of things. They can choose to be grateful. They can choose to laugh. They can choose to be kind. They can choose to serve. They can recognize their own strengths and those of others. They can choose to take care of their health. They can choose to be the best version of themselves. All of these choices are ours to make, they are within our control!

Let’s take a look at a few of these choices:

• Happiness increases when we recognize, develop, or discover a strength within ourselves.

What did you learn, how did you grow and what did you accomplish this past year? What strengths do you have? Celebrate what you have learned, how you have grown, and what you have accomplished. It is important to recognize all of these things and to see just how wonderful you are! What strengths would you like to develop? How would you like to grow this year? Set some SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based) goals this year to help you become your very best self.

• Happiness increases with good relationships – with family, friends, neighbors, teachers, coaches, and others in our community.

What can you do to strengthen the relationships that you have? Are you a good friend and family member? What can you do to improve? Do you want to make new friends this year? How will you plan to go about that?

• Happiness increases as you serve and give to your family, friends, and the world around you.

What can you do to make your home, your relationships, and the world a better place? How can you serve your friends, family, and the world?

• Happiness can be directly affected by how well you take care of health.

Are you eating well? Exercising? Getting enough sleep? Are you doing the things that you need to take care of yourself – physically, mentally, and emotionally? How can you improve?

What are some small changes that you can make in your life that will increase your happiness this year? I hope that you will take a few minutes and set some goals that will help you to have the very happiest year yet. Happy New Year – Choose to be happy in 2025!

I love you and look forward to seeing you soon!

Love,

Mrs. Achiu