A year-long journey of small steps toward joy – Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project reveals that happiness is built in daily habits

🌍 English Edition📖 Book Review

The Happiness Project: Gretchen Rubin’s Guide to Joy in Daily Life

Kamaruzzaman Bustamam Ahmad

Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project (2009) is part memoir, part self-help experiment, documenting a year she dedicated to pursuing happiness through small, intentional changes. Instead of seeking dramatic transformations, Rubin explores how gratitude, decluttering, exercise, and meaningful relationships shape well-being. Her approach is practical: happiness is not found in grand achievements but in everyday habits and choices. The book resonates because it blends research from psychology with relatable personal anecdotes, making abstract concepts tangible. Readers see themselves in Rubin’s struggles and triumphs. For those overwhelmed by self-help promises, The Happiness Project offers a realistic path—proving that joy is cultivated, not discovered