30 Things that make me Happy

Daily writing prompt
List 30 things that make you happy.
View all responses
  1. My 6 year old (most of the time)
  2. My husband (most of the time)
  3. My 2 dogs & 2 cats (most of the time…)
  4. Being alone 🙂
  5. Running
  6. Singing
  7. Old book smell
  8. Hot black coffee (or an oatmilk latte – either does the trick)
  9. Tofu curries or noodles
  10. Vegan breakfast bagels/burritos
  11. My clients
  12. Farm animal sanctuaries
  13. Solstices
  14. Crystals
  15. Tarot decks
  16. Slimes
  17. ASMR
  18. Sleeping in
  19. Going to bed early
  20. Getting lots of sleep (sense a theme?)
  21. Going out for drinks with a friend
  22. Getting slap-happy tired with friends (Ragnar NWP Van 1!) (sometimes no sleep is fun too)
  23. Frogs
  24. Hummingbirds
  25. Bald eagles
  26. The smell of a pine forest
  27. Swimming
  28. Sitting next to the ocean on a quiet rocky beach
  29. Being frugal/less wasteful
  30. Writing (or more accurately, “having written”)
  31. Making lists

Despite having not written anything here (or anywhere) for years, I logged into WordPress to update the payment method for domain auto-renewal, and felt a teensy bit inspired to write something. This prompt felt completely doable, and even helpful for my mental health.

I’m alone-ish tonight (see #4) and have been thinking recently about happiness. I’ve been a mom for 6 years to one bright, funny, loving, challenging kid with mild cerebral palsy, and between the infant/baby/toddler stage, COVID-19, preschool, kindergarten, running my own business part time, and keeping pets alive and house liveable, I feel like I’ve been in survival mode for 6 years. In survival mode, one doesn’t have hobbies. One doesn’t have interests. One doesn’t feel happy, even if there are happy things that occur.

In the last couple of years, there have been pit-stops of open space and time for me to re-enter my inner life and enjoy some helpful things. I’ve been in lots of therapy, I’ve found ways to read books for fun again (yay Libby audiobooks!), and I recently started running again. (I should write more about the races I’m doing this summer in another post!)

So, to me, happiness is usually found in the moments outside of the race track of survival mode. I am in a privileged lot to be able to find these moments. I have a supportive partner. We have resources. I have only 1 kid. I am white. The privileges go on, and I hope I don’t take them for granted. But it’s a gift that I could sit down tonight to try and think up 30 things that make me happy.

I’m happy that I wrote this post!

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