“Many mickles make a muckle.”

This Scottish proverb was the favorite saying of George Washington and, as silly as it is, reinforces a well-known truth: things add up. It is a much funner way of saying that Rome wasn’t built in a day. 

I often get asked how I healed myself from clinical depression without medications or how I went from being so ready to end my life to being genuinely happy and fulfilled. 

Well, the answer is simple: I took the first step. The process itself, however, while often fun, was anything but simple. We are creatures of habit. We revert to our habits even if we know that they are harmful. Even if we know they can kill us. That is how powerful the actions we repeat are. But every impressive achievement had a humble beginning. 

Well being, happiness, a health journey…..these things are brought into fruition by a culmination of small steps.

Believe me, I get how looking at the big picture can be overwhelming. Just yesterday, I sat down and cried when they extended the school closure here in Arizona because the prospect of figuring out more homeschooling and more activities just seemed like way too much. Well, duh. Once I got through that emotion, I wrote down a few ideas and went about my day.

If your destination from rock-bottom depression is happiness or you want to go from 400 to 150 pounds, there is no one step that will get you there. You have to choose something that will move you in the right direction. Remember, even one step is forward movement.

Right now, I want you to get out a piece of paper and write down the days of the week, starting with today. Now I want you to write down a different thing that you can do every day to move you one step closer toward happiness. It could be as simple as cleaning out a drawer, downloading a a free language learning app, foregoing soda or getting yourself some chamomile tea. Commit to this list for the next seven days.

In seven days, you will be SEVEN STEPS CLOSER to a happier and healthier you.