Gratitude, Days 29 & 30: Anytime Happy Fun-Time Magic

Tonight I'll be staying with Lee in order to be closer to the airport, so that tomorrow morning I can get up bright and early and pick up Kellie before we embark on our 9-hour drive to FLORIDA, BITCHES. (Pity me not for the 9-hour car drive, rather be jealous of the 4 days in Florida.) This means that tonight and tomorrow I'll be very busy and probably unable to internet some gratitude in your general direction. Thus, in order to close out this month of gratitude, I wanted to do something a little different. Since I've generally been writing about things for which I'm grateful that are sort of time-specific (for example, what I ate that day, the nap I took, a conversation I had, what I ate that day), I'm going to mix it up for the final post and make a list of 10 things I can do on any day that never fail to make me feel grateful for and happy about life. You know, like Chicken Soup for the Soul, but with less stories about children with cancer. So, here we go...

Ten Things That Generally Make Me Less Likely to Kick Someone
1) Running / exercising. Makes me feel like a champion.
2) Cleaning. It's soothing in its mindlessness, and at the end of it you get a sparkly apartment.
3) Crocheting. Similar to cleaning in mindlessness, except the end result is usually more like a coaster, or a hat that doesn't quite fit your giant head.
4) Blogging. Come up with stupid joke. Laugh at your own stupid joke. Repeat.
5) Walking around outside. Drink in the wonder of the natural world, feel at one with all living beings, and remember what sunshine feels like.
6) Journaling. Word-vomiting all of your insane neuroses into a private place sort of calls attention to how insignificant most of that stuff is. It's true what they say, that sometimes all it takes is just getting things off your chest, even if you can't fix any of it. Who knew?
7) Meditating. The act of focusing on clearing my mind and slowing myself down often emphasizes how scattered and amped up I usually am. Also, 'practicing' that calm feeling makes it a little bit easier to call it up whenever you need it.
8) Cooking a recipe I've never tried before. Sometimes I narrate it in my head as if I'm on Food Network.
9) Doing something creative. I guess some of the other things on this list fall into this category, too, but I just mean to say that a lot of relatively silly 'creative' activities can make me feel good. Such as: painting (even by numbers), making a collage from magazine photos (why? I don't know), and taking artistic photos of the gerbils (which sounds sort of dirty, but isn't really). No, I don't get out much. Why do you ask? Speaking of which...
10) Going out with friends. Sometimes I get anxious about hanging out with large groups of people, and it seems easier to just not do it, but I'm always glad that I did. For one thing, it's reassuring to be proven wrong when you think something isn't going to go well. And for another thing, it's a reminder that there are plenty of awesome people in the world, so you're never really alone in your rage and/or despondency.

What's interesting about a lot of these things is that most of the time when I contemplate them they sound suspiciously like 'work.' But I've hardly ever done them and not felt good afterward. I figure that starting grad school in the Fall is going to mean a large increase in the number of causes of compulsive fretting, so this list may come in handy as a reminder of simple (non-alcoholic!) things I can do to evaporate some of my Storm Cloud of Nervous Energy and Doom.

... And thus concludes Sharing Time Station's Month of Gratitude and Happy Thoughts to Help You Fly Like Peter Pan. Thanks again to Schmutzie for having a great idea that I could totally rip off and use for my own blog. We here at Sharing Time Station hope that you've enjoyed this exercise as much as we have, and that it hasn't been too terribly saccharine-sweet for the cynics out there. As a part-time hateful old codger myself, I understand how retch-inducing it can be to have someone else's unadulterated joy pushed on you like those Jesus pamphlets that guerilla Christians leave in public places.*

But that's not all! Today's blog has a surprise price of admission! It's sort of like a free stay at a timeshare that sounds like a lot of fun but then involves a lot of painful surprise high-pressure sales pitches. Since you willingly read this blog entry, you are now contractually obligated** to leave a comment telling me a) something you're grateful for today, b) some secret trick you have that always lifts your spirits, or, if you're feeling saucy, c) something that never fails to PISS YOU RIGHT OFF. And don't think you can just sneak away without leaving a comment. I can check the stats, I WILL KNOW.

*If anyone reading this has lived for any length of time in a U.S. state outside of the Bible Belt, do you know if people do this elsewhere? I have a feeling that people in New Jersey, for example, aren't always being accosted in the bathroom of their local Subway Sandwich Shop with literature about the fate of their eternal soul.
**I'll have to check this with my resident law student, but for now, just assume that it's true.