Catching Happiness: Blogging

Catching Happiness 2.0

November 06, 2026

It’s been 17 years since I hit publish here for the first time. An uncountable number of things have changed since that first blog post. When I started Catching Happiness, I was a 40-something mom/freelance writer with a teenager at home. All my parents were living, and I had a completely different set of pets. Now I’m staring down my 60s, walking through the open door of the next phase of my life: the (gasp) “senior years.”

In 2009, creating Catching Happiness was a way for me to explore a more personal form of writing than the magazine articles I was more familiar with. This blog has been a true labor of love—and I’ve loved (almost) every minute of it.

Missing in action

However, for the past couple of years, I’ve been erratic in my posting, while I dealt with family health crises, elder care and the passing of two of my three moms, moving, the loss of my beloved horse, and the aftermath of the stress and grief of those experiences. I decided to step back and not force myself to write a post just to have something new on the website. For a while, I avoided writing anything—not just Catching Happiness posts but even journal or morning pages. What was there to say? Too often, a journal entry left me choked with grief, frustration, sadness, or anxiety. Writing had become a chore rather than a joy and solace.

As my freelance clients faded away, I also began to come to terms with the idea and reality of retirement from actively pursuing freelance jobs. The downside being that I don’t know who I am if I’m not a writer, and did it really happen if I didn’t write about it, at least privately in my journal?

Blogging has changed. I’ve changed. And the world has certainly changed since November of 2009. But when it came down to either shuttering Catching Happiness, or perhaps moving to Substack rather than blogging, I just couldn’t do either one. I enjoy the format of a blog—a place to share not only my longer, more thoughtful reflections, but quotes, photos, interesting links and more. Writing for Catching Happiness has always been a way to work through questions, emotions, and life experiences both good and bad. I’m not ready to let it go.

So where will Catching Happiness go from here?

I just renewed the Catching Happiness domain name, so for at least one more year I plan to keep it active.

I’m still interested in happiness research, embracing simple pleasures and everyday adventures. I still believe, as I wrote in “Why ‘CatchingHappiness’?” that “happiness matters, we are in charge of our own happiness, and we can improve it.”

I may not post every week, but I plan and hope to get back into a more regular schedule of posting. I may make some small changes to the monthly Happy Little Thoughts newsletter (subscribe here).

I’m going to continue to write about happiness research, and share tips I’ve discovered for living a happier life in general, as well as life lessons and interesting discoveries. I imagine this next stage of life will also have plenty of discoveries and adventures. I’ll still share personal experiences and interests, because you are my friends—and hopefully that will encourage you to follow your interests as well. I’m still interested in familiar simple pleasures like books and reading, writing, and art (sketching, watercolor, art journaling). I’m hoping to travel more now that my responsibilities of caring for people and my horse have ended.

Please do share your interests with me, and if you have any suggestions for topics to cover, I’d love to hear about them.

Thank you!

Writing helps me clarify my thinking, and sharing my thoughts with others, with the intent of helping or inspiring (and, in some cases, serving as a cautionary tale) still seems a way I can continue to find purpose. So for at least one more year, I’m here.

As always, thank you so much for taking the time to visit Catching Happiness! Your words of encouragement have meant more to me than you know.

Anniversary

Seven Years and 813 Blog Posts Later...

November 11, 2016

Guess what? Today marks the 7^th anniversary of Catching Happiness. That’s a lot of simple pleasures and everyday adventures!

Catching Happiness began as a place for me to explore a more personal form of writing than what I had been doing, writing articles for magazines and web sites. I hoped to sharpen my skills, and, ultimately, see if I had material for a book. As I got into it, I developed a way to look at life and a personal philosophy that I feel comfortable with and that, I think, is a positive addition to cyberspace and the world. Over these past seven years, I’ve also learned to notice more because I want to share things with you.

There have been highs and lows to write about, discoveries of happy little things, Field Trip Friday excursions, and many new online friends. The structure of posting has kept my writing muscles limbered up and ready to go. Now and then I’ve burned out and wondered whether I should shutter Catching Happiness and spend that time pursuing paying writing outlets, and every time I’ve decided not to—Catching Happiness is a labor of love and I’m just not ready to let it go. I just renewed the domain name for another year.

I want to thank each one of you who has taken the time to read my posts, even if you never or rarely comment. I’m grateful you take the time to visit. Your thoughtful comments and encouragement have meant a lot to me for the past seven years.

So as we go forward, I have this to ask you: What would you like to see more of? Less of? What are your favorite types of posts, and what could you live without? Do you have any suggestions or comments to share? I’d love to hear from you.

I believe I wouldn’t have learned as much and had as many adventures without Catching Happiness. I will always be grateful for it, and for you, the reader. Thank you for being a part of the past seven happy years!

Blogging

Small Changes Coming to Catching Happiness

November 20, 2015

After six years, it’s time for a change. This blog was never intended to make money (except in my wildest fantasies), and good thing, too, because it’s been a crashing failure in that regard. It was intended to be a creative outlet for me, and a way to make connections with other like-minded people. In that regard, it’s been a complete success. But now it’s time for me to put my primary writing focus elsewhere—on building my freelancing business. You may have noticed a couple of other changes as well: I’ve updated “About Me” and streamlined the sidebars. (Don’t worry if your blog was in my sidebar—I’ve added it to my feed reader and still plan to visit often!)

I love writing for Catching Happiness and will continue to post here, just not quite as often. My plan right now is to post once or twice a week instead of two to three times a week. I’ll continue to share simple pleasures and everyday adventures, as well as bits of happiness news and other happy little things. I still love to hear from you, so please share whatever is on your mind via the comments section, or by contacting me directly. Thank you for taking the time to visit and comment over these past years—your words mean more to me than you know.