Six Everyday Pleasures: Finding Joy in the Little Things

During one of my previous sessions with my therapist, I was feeling rather down, and she asked what I liked. Something that brought me joy, and I did it just for me. She asked me to think about it and start keeping an ongoing list. As of this day, I have six things.

- Listening to music

This is the one consistent habit that has lasted the longest in my life. I don't go a day without listening to music. It helps that I have a small radio and a boombox that can play CDs. Spotify is also my go-to when I want to hear something that usually won't be played on the radio. My comfort music genre is 80s and 90s country music.

- Texas

I was born and raised in the great state of Texas, and with that came state pride. Whenever I visit the library, I usually check out a book on entertainment and then some sort of history book that deals with Texas. I've always said that home is Texas and wherever my mom is. They both provide me with a sense of inner calm.

- Animals

One thing I've always thanked my parents for is that my sisters and I grew up with animals. We lived in the country, so we had dogs to scare off the coyotes and cats to help with the mice problem since there were corn fields all around. Nowadays, I volunteer at a local animal shelter.

- Watching lawn videos

YouTube will recommend the most random things sometimes. I consider this to be my form of ASMR. Specifically, I watch people mowing, edging, and weed-eating lawns. I'm now subscribed to YouTube lawn channels from people in the USA, Australia, and Germany. Some of these videos can be long, so I will usually watch them at 2X speed. On any random Sunday, I can usually be found on my couch binge-watching lawn videos.

- Being out in nature

I've always valued that I grew up in the country. Being able to sit out on a lawn chair at night and watch the stars is something I feel every kid should be able to experience at least once. When I lived with my younger sister and brother-in-law, I loved going out into their yard and trimming the trees or pulling weeds. My upcoming vacation will be visiting my mom and helping her replant her garden.

- Working out/staying healthy

Over many years, I've learned that working out at least four times a week is what currently works for me. I take pride in my health and know that if I don't make it a priority, my depression is always ready to take over. In the family of five that I grew up in, I'm the only one who currently has a consistent habit of working out and staying healthy. I've learned the hard way that everyone has their own health journey. You don't know when their wake-up call will come, if ever.

A quote I've read before states: Joy does not simply happen to us; we have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.