When our girls were toddlers and we checked into a hotel, I’d start hyping them up before we even pulled into the parking lot.

“Girls! Look out the window! Tell me if you see something you’ve never seen before! Isn’t this cool and different from home?”

Sure, hyping up toddlers might seem unnecessary, but I wanted to show them what it looks like to be excited about life. Bring on the energy and the enthusiasm! Because who doesn’t love being purely happy in the moment?

The second I’d open the hotel room door, they’d take off running, crisscrossing and teetering, with full-on giggles. Taking it all in. “Pool!” they’d shout. “Let’s go!”

Their joy lit me up just as much.

That’s what I think of as happiness stacked.

We can build happiness the same way we build a really good sandwich, layer by layer. Start with making regular life good through a few intentional tweaks and pivots. Then add a thick layer of anticipatory happiness by putting something on your calendar that you genuinely can’t wait for.

Regular life enhancements don’t have to be complicated. Sleep, nutrition and movement matter. Invest in your relationships. Do small acts of kindness. Use your strengths. Pay attention to what’s already good.

And keep checking in with yourself: What’s working? What’s not? Where do I want to shift?

When my husband and I decided to move from Dallas to Asheville, it was a conscious pivot. We chose mountains, seasons (with a much cooler summer), an outdoor lifestyle, the food scene and working for ourselves so we’d have more control over our time. It checked a lot of our boxes.

One of our first weeks here, he asked if I wanted to wake up early and watch the sunrise. Yes, please!

That’s happiness stacked. By design, we can build lives that reflect what matters to us. We can add layers whenever we choose.

I felt it again when we booked our spring break trip. I put a calendar near the kitchen table and, as a family, we started counting down the days to a full week away under palm trees, where the ocean meets sky. Rest easy, laptop. No need for your powers here.

You don’t just get the joy of the vacation while you’re on it, you also get the joy leading up to it. Something to look forward to pulls you through your days with a little more energy, a little more lightness.

There’s no shortage of content out there designed to stir up fear and division. But what if we created more content (moments and experiences) in our own lives that made us feel good? What if we got intentional about noticing and amplifying what’s already working?

Our everyday life doesn’t have to feel dramatically different from vacation life. If coming home feels like a letdown, maybe home needs a few thoughtful changes.

There are so many simple ways to add pops of color to an ordinary day if we’re willing to shift our perspective. Maybe it’s the coffee talking, but I want my life to feel like the opposite of a zombie apocalypse. No dining dead in our house. I’m here for the sparks. The energy. The exhilaration of being alive.

Here are some ways to stack the deck.

Build your days around what you actually enjoy. I used to force early-morning workouts because that’s what you’re supposed to do. But what I really love is a slow start after the blur of getting our girls off to school: coffee, reading and journaling. So now I protect that time and schedule workouts like appointments … later. I don’t negotiate. I just go. Now I look forward to my mornings.

Train your mind to notice joy. At the end of the day, ask yourself: What did I love? When did I feel my best? What moment stands out? For me, it’s often the smallest things: a conversation in the car with one of my daughters, my husband making me laugh, or one of our pets doing something ridiculous. The small things compound quickly.

Start with a blank canvas and be intentional about what you put on it. One snow day, one of my daughters joined me at the gym. We had so much fun that we decided to make it a regular thing. This intentionality upped joy and solidified memories for both of us as we created a new thing we like to do together.

And maybe most importantly … Remember, this is it. None of us knows when the lights go out. So laugh more now. Play more now. Be a little silly. If we carry everything, it will eventually weigh us down. When you really take in that this isn’t forever, the moment in front of you becomes more alive.

At our wedding, a childhood friend I used to babysit reminded me of something I’d completely forgotten. She said, “You were the wildest babysitter. You sprayed us through the kitchen screen with the faucet hose just for fun. And we’d go yell into your silo to hear the echo.”

I laughed out loud hearing that version of myself.

And then, on our recent trip, I watched our teenage daughters race each other down a hotel hallway.

Some things don’t change.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is set down the responsibilities for a minute and just play. There’s real value in keeping that part of ourselves alive.

We can stack the deck toward happiness.