One Simple Daily Practice Skyrocketed Her Happiness

Tracking Happiness, One Day at a Time

For nearly five years, writer Julia Pugachevsky tracked her mood every single day — marking each journal entry with a simple colored dot. Green meant happy, orange meant stressed, red meant angry, and blue marked sadness. What started as a small doodling habit slowly became a powerful window into her emotional life, revealing patterns she never expected and reshaping how she understands happiness.

To better interpret what she discovered, Pugachevsky spoke with Arthur C. Brooks, a Harvard professor and happiness researcher. Brooks explained that journaling is one of the most effective ways to step outside our emotions and understand them clearly. Writing shifts our reactions from instinctive to reflective, helping us take control rather than be swept away by whatever we’re feeling.

What Five Years of Data Revealed

Pugachevsky’s years of journaling showed that many classic happiness boosters still hold true: exercising, socializing, sleeping well, drinking less, and helping others consistently pushed her mood upward. But the long-term tracking also challenged her assumptions. She found that “negative” emotions were crucial to her growth, and that documenting life on social media often lowered her overall satisfaction.

She also learned that stress wasn’t always the enemy. Many of her happiest spikes followed intense moments — running a marathon, changing jobs, getting engaged, or taking on new challenges. According to Brooks, that’s because true satisfaction often follows struggle.

Choosing Connection and Hope

Over time, two habits had the biggest impact: scheduling regular in-person social time and dramatically reducing her social media use. Cutting Instagram brought an immediate mental reset and helped her reconnect with her authentic self. The only thing she still struggles with, she admits, is hope — something Brooks says is built through stronger relationships, deeper faith, and shared resilience.

Her takeaway: happiness can be shaped by habits, but hope requires community. And both matter in building a life worth living.