Choosing Happiness with the Magic Underwear Trick

posted 2nd March 2010    Written by: Nicole Antoinette    CATEGORY: All Posts, Nicole Antoinette, Quarterlife Crisis, Season 2

One of the main reasons I love personal blogs is that I’m fascinated with people’s private lives. I feel like how you act at home is the truest reflection of who you are, and I just can’t get enough of reading about other people’s lives and watching their video blogs and clicking on their Twitpics.

Which is to say, I’m Nicole and I’m a voyeur and I don’t care because it’s so fun and I just can’t help it and the internet makes it so damn easy.

You know what I love the most? The details.

Like, what do you and your husband have for dinner? Do you cuss a lot? What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning? Do you like hiking on the weekends? What color are your walls? And on and on.

My home life, in case you’re just as much of a voyeuristic stalker, is a combination of Trader Joe’s and writing and Snuggies and a wood burning fire place and dancing on the counter to mashup music and wearing my hair in a side ponytail and watching stand up comedy online and I don’t have a husband but my roommate and I eat a lot of pasta for dinner and of course I cuss like crazy and I listen to Bedrock by Young Money when I first wake up and sure hiking sounds fun and my walls are like a sage-ish green.

I think that things like this, the details of our lives, reveal what our values are and what’s most important to us. How we spend our personal time is what defines us, and one of the most defining things about my home life right now (and therefore my life in general), is that I spend the majority of my time at home wearing nothing but a sports bra and boy short underwear.

I know that probably sounds totally bizarre and you’re all, “Wait, what?” but here’s the thing: it’s all about building confidence.

Overall, I think this small act has less to do with being almost naked and more to do with the fact that I’m really just trying to close the gap between who I am and who I want to be, and who I want to be is a woman who’s so overwhelmingly comfortable with her own body that feeling otherwise isn’t an option.

We all do things like this, right? Things that make us feel good and emphasize the fact that even if our over-scheduled lives try to make it otherwise, happiness is something that can’t be dispensable. And I really believe that happiness, the purest happiness, is completely self-defined and that all we need to do is figure out what makes us kick and then run with it, and run hard.

Happiness is a choice. Confidence is a choice.

And lately I’ve been choosing both by jumping around my apartment in my underwear while listening to live versions of John Mayer on YouTube, making tomato sauce, and checking myself out in the mirror. That’s how I’m choosing happiness, choosing confidence…

Your turn.

photo credit: Annie Mole

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Comments (13)

13 Responses to “Choosing Happiness with the Magic Underwear Trick”

  • Doniree Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    I kitchen dance.

  • nicoleisbetter Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 9:18 pm

    Kitchen dancing is the best. Or just random spontaneous dance parties in general. CAR DANCING! Ew, this entire response makes me miss miss miss you.

  • Christy Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 10:12 pm

    I love it, and can't wait to check out your personal blog (when in the safety of my home, thanks for the warning!) lol…

  • Molly_Hoyne Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 10:38 pm

    You know I take this sentiment to heart, "I think that things like this, the details of our lives, reveal what our values are and what’s most important to us." Yes. Yes. Yes.

    So, I'm sitting in my yoga pants and knit hat, listening to 80's dance music, drinking water out of a Fat Tire Ale glass I stole in my stealing-of-cool-bar-glasses-phase, working on the launch of you-know-what and using my most beautiful markers to stay organized. Enough detail for you? ;)

    As far as choosing confidence and happiness- Monday starts my 6 week long burlesque class! Like you, I think prancing about semi-naked is good for the soul and the sex goddess status. Also, daily meditation practice is back on the table, as is eating dinner with the Big Man sans hulu.com.

  • nicoleisbetter Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 10:49 pm

    I'm in love with everything about this Molly. First things first, I definitely need to commence a stealing-of-cool-bar-glasses-phase. Second things second, I want to take belly dancing classes. And I need a knit hat.

  • nicoleisbetter Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 10:49 pm

    Ha, that's what the warning is there for :)

  • Jamie Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 12:33 am

    I mean, I've ARRIVED!

  • nicoleisbetter Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 12:48 am

    All totally wonderful and completely justifiable things. Love it! Also, watch Neon live in LA on YouTube. God. SO AMAZING.

  • nicoleisbetter Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 12:48 am

    Have you? From where I'm sitting, it looks like you're still wearing your clothes.

  • Emma Says:
    March 2nd, 2010 at 11:26 pm

    Ahhh thank you! John Mayer live is the best! Too many non-JM fans think that we're all just obsessed with his like Body is a Wonderland wooing skills. But it's really his mad wailing skills.

    Anyway, what a fun post! And, speaking of details, I always listen to album-version City Love followed by As/Is live-version of Covered in Rain back-to-back. It's mandatory. And I also named my GPS Lydia after these songs.

  • Shelly Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 10:31 pm

    "My home life, in case you’re just as much of a voyeuristic stalker, is a combination of Trader Joe’s and writing and Snuggies and a wood burning fire place and dancing on the counter to mashup music and wearing my hair in a side ponytail and watching stand up comedy online and I don’t have a husband but my roommate and I eat a lot of pasta for dinner and of course I cuss like crazy and I listen to Bedrock by Young Money when I first wake up and sure hiking sounds fun and my walls are like a sage-ish green."

    I, too, love the details. Thanks for sharing!

  • Ally B Says:
    March 3rd, 2010 at 11:16 pm

    Here's the thing: I *wish* I was comfortable enough to be half naked in my own home, but I'm not. I don't like my body, and if it's not sufficiently covered up I feel awful. And that's the most depressing thing I've ever written, but I feel the need to be honest about that, because I *can't* be the only one, right?

  • my worst enemy and the *real* start of 30 by 30 « alison in the burgh Says:
    July 12th, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    [...] drink a lot but i drink more than i should. hellooooo empty calories! 4) i’m going to try the magic underwear trick. TMI? 5) i’m going to stop. being. so. fucking. negative. this isn’t going to happen [...]

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