Positive things I enjoy.

[oak]

Friends, after a downer of a Mother's Day, the first since I was estranged from my Negative Nancy and Downer Debbie of a family of origin, here are several cheerful things I've come to appreciate, including the year I began to get into each:

1.Earl Nightengale's The Strangest Secret (2005)

https://youtu.be/F4s1Fyh4HAg

Having listened to this thousands of times, I consider this the main/most important reason I endured in my early sobriety.

2. Joel Osteen podcast (2006)

While I won't defend everything about him, Joel was an excellent example, also in my early sobriety. Like The Strangest Secret, I listen to them every week, to this day.

3. Re-discovering the 90's music of Oasis (2007). Much of their early albums were a response to nihilism and grunge.

4. This forum (2013)

5. Hallmark movies (2014)

6. Amish romance novels (2020). Everyone tries to do the right thing.

7. The gym (2021). Of all places! I was un-athletic until about a year before the pandemic. Or, more likely, I had a latent (hidden) athletic side that just needed to get around the right group of positive people to blossom.

I feel much more at home at Planet Fitness than I ever did with my family of origin. They treat me much better, also. People can change.

[Mental Fairy]

Oh this is an interesting topic indeed Oak.

I’ll have a crack at it but I know already it’s going to be strange!

1 - patting my cat at night time! Mazie Moo Moo Allie Rowe the second! Yup I’m bloody crazy!
She’s non judgemental and absolutely adorable and in sync with my needs at times of low mood.

2 - cooking. Absolutely love to fill the house with the smell of home cooked meals like my nana used to make. Recreating a dish she taught me just my feel and texture of a batter to a handful of this and that.

3 - running. This is a touchy subject. Running became a passion for me years ago and did play a part in a rather obsessive health thing. When told I had Crohn’s I was informed health especially mental health was paramount to maintain as it could get messy at times. Running was my action of venting. Turned out it made things worse and I had to learn to balance and not listen to that bitch in my head saying I’m not good enough.

4 - reading. I absolutely love to read books. Especially when I can relate or when I need to investigate or detach from my own reality.

5 - cleaning. I love a clean house and it brings me peace when things are in order! OCD? No idea.

6 - star gazing. We are so small in comparison yet the impact one person has on another is just as big as a universe.

7 - Walking in a forest on a rainy day.

8 - clean sheet day. Needs no explanation!

[manuel_moe_g]

[1] going bargain hunting at local estate sales with my daughter

[2] reading and writing in this forum

[3] times of tenderness with my wife

[4] visiting my mom's two cats

[5] funny podcasts - Jordan Jesse Go, Endless Honeymoon, all of Alison Rosen's podcasts

[6] mental health podcast and other podcast about the mind - Mental Illness Happy Hour, Depresh Mode, You Are Not So Smart, Hidden Brain

[7] sitting in the big chair with my feet up and the ceiling fan turned up to max

[Mental Fairy]

Would like to add to the list……knowing that this platform and you who is reading this are here.

Oak, Manuel_Moe, snoringdog, Rivergirl and all the people who read our expressions but haven’t yet formulated the words to express their own, thank you. You are a positive.


Thank you reader for taking just a smidge of weight off these shoulders.
Before this it was just my cat that suffered with my conversations! And maybe the horse over the fence from time to time.
Collectively you the reader come along with others on their journeys.
Going to therapy tomorrow for day 4 and ya all have to come along with me! It’s because of you all I’m still going. Oh and the podcast. And the cat.

[snoringdog]

And the horse over the fence.

Tell us about the horse over the fence!

(Such beautiful animals...)

[Mental Fairy]

We have four horses over the fence currently as they are used as recovery horses for kids with disabilities. All of them are retired and beautiful. I was watching something the other day also about the power of the horse and the way they read people. Absolutely beautiful creatures.

[snoringdog]

And quite sensitive to their surroundings.
Just watch their ears...

[oak]

Friends, thank you for sharing. This weekend I'll see if I can identify common threads between these positive experiences.

Cheerful fitness instructors

In the meantime, I am happy to report I have evolved in the last six weeks, especially regarding my #7 (the gym):

Getting better at screens off at night and a semi-proper bedtime, I am getting up earlier and enjoying the 6 and 20 minute recorded exercise sessions through the lovely Planet Fitness app.

These fitness instructors are so kind and encouraging. I wish I'd had them in my family. I could have used better role models. Thank goodness I live in 2022.

Also

I am being careful to stay hydrated as summer approaches.

Staying hydrated is really important