Blogtober Day 6: How To Find Your Happy: 5 Ways I Find My Smile 😊

Disclaimer:  I haven't been paid to promote any products, just wanted to share how I try to find my smiles when they're not so easy to find x

Hi Honeys,

Summer has officially left us I'm afraid.  I mean, yes, I do know that summer officially ended on 22nd September but we were treated to a few extra days of lingering summer warmth and it was lovely while it lasted, but it's gone now.

The evenings are chilly, the rain has appeared bringing with her winds that could chill a person to the bone.  Mostly at this time of year I just want to hibernate until March 20th - the first official day of spring and exactly when the world usually starts to feel as if it makes sense again.  

The garden starts to wake up from her (far too) long nap and bursts into life and the feeders in the apple tree are visited by our garden guests.  Unlike the winter moths though, sometimes they bring baby birds with them, teaching them their first lessons as they leave their nests. 

At the first sign of leaves falling, my mood drops with them. I'm just not made for autumn/fall and even less so for winter. 

So honeys, what do you do when you run out of summer days and are faced with two seasons worth of mostly very chilly rain accompanied by so much darkness as our daylight hours shrink to less than six hours a day.  

This has been a year of few smiles honeys but enough of the doldrums.  If mother nature isn't sending us any happy vibes dear ones, we'll have to make our own. 😊 

I know we're all different and find our smiles in different ways. I've even heard there are people who actually like autumn/fall and even... clutches pearls... winter! 😊 

For anyone, like me, though the next few months will need extra smiles and I thought I'd share how I usually find mine.  I say usually because the times we find ourselves in are not usual at all.  We have to look on the bright side though honeys and the first thing we'll need in order to find our smiles is a positive attitude.💖

Why not go grab yourself a cuppa (and maybe a cookie or two) and meet me back here and I'll share how I (usually) find my smiles.  See you after the page break...

Welcome back honeys 💖 Do you have your cuppa?  Me too ☕  Let's dive in then shall we?

How To Find Your Happy...

   

1. Yoga

I was introduced to yoga by a lovely practice nurse we had at our Doctors surgery and it was the best gift 💖 I'd asked her for suggestions on what kind of gentle exercise I could do that wouldn't hurt my (already painful from RA) joints and she immediately said "yoga" 

I discovered, even when there's only me trying to follow a dvd in our living room, with our furbaby Jade having a nap on the sofa, it makes me smile.  Really, properly smile 😊  

I don't understand why it affects my mood the way it does, I just know that it makes me feel good.  So, yoga doesn't just do what I had hoped it might (help me to keep moving) it can change my whole mood and make my day better.  I don't know if you'll see this Jenna, but thank you, you gave me such a wonderful gift and I'll be forever grateful x 

I'm hoping to get back to the level I'd reached prior to the osteoarthritis in my spine worsening, if not any movement is better then none.  Wish me luck x 

2. Plan a movie night

What could be more fun than planning a double (or triple) bill of your favourite movies?  Or why not pick a theme and each choose a favourite?  Then switch off all phones and devices (put them into a box or basket as a sort of device jail lol)  for a few hours (don't worry, social media and the internet will still be there when you log on again 😊) and concentrate on spending time with loved ones.  

Think of it as a home version of Mystery Science Theatre 3000* 😊 laugh, make up dialogue, have a giggle or just enjoy the movies together and each others company.  Mostly though, just spend time together, reconnecting and have fun.  The most recent movies night we had, we watched Major League and Major League II.  We hadn't seen them in quite a while and we had such a great time watching them again. 

*  In case anyone isn't old enough to remember it (how old do I feel right now? The 80's were only the day before yesterday weren't they?) Mystery Science Theatre 3000 had a janitor kept prisoner on a satellite orbiting the earth and forced to watch old cheesy movies as part of an experiment.  The janitor created two sentient robots to help keep him sane and they all watched the movies together, making fun and generally having a laugh. 😊 

We only ever got to see them late nights on one of the Sky movie channels I think (it was years ago, I'm old and the memory is going lol) but we loved them.  I wish they'd release them on DVD, as box sets even. (I told you, we're old 😊 what is this streaming you're talking about?)   

    

3. Organise something 😊

Who doesn't love creating order where before there was chaos?  Both Hubby and I are trying to do exactly that to our little home.  It doesn't have to be a huge project being completed though to make me smile honeys, it can be as simple as tackling the "junk drawer" in the kitchen.  

Tiny projects, even five minutes a day, will all add up over time and before you know it (hopefully, we're still working on our home) you'll have an organised space (except for all of those home organisation books with post it notes and pieces of paper sticking out of them keeping the place of a project you want to try... or is that just me 😊)

4. Fun in the kitchen

One of my favourites!* Cooking is such a fun, and relaxing, way to pass the time.  To make it extra fun, why not experiment, go to Pinterest and search for a recipe you've never tried to make before, enlist a friend or loved one and spend a fun few hours laughing and cooking and then why not set the table, use the "good" dishes and enjoy the product of your labours 💖

* The dish in the photo above is my own version (every cook in Scotland makes it her/his own way) of Stovies and it's gotten seriously chilly in the evenings recently so we'll be making a huge pot of this sometime this week I think.  If you'd like to make some too you'll find the recipe here honeys, enjoy x 

5. Treat yourself to some "me" time

While it's so important to stay connected, especially after the past eighteen months or so we've all had, with lock-downs and stress and social distancing, it's also important to take some "alone" time when you need it.   

Do you meditate honeys? I have a place I can go to without even putting on my coat.  All I have to do is close my eyes.  My "oasis of calm" is a beach.  It exists as a canvas on the wall upstairs but in my mind's eye I can step into it, walk down the steps onto the beach and sit for a while.  

It's my calm when the world becomes too much and has even helped me through frightening experiences such as a CT scan.  (You can read about that here if you'd like to honeys x) 

I haven't coped very well this past year or so at all honeys, so I'm going to be re-visiting all of these suggestions too to try to find my smile.  Mostly I want to reconnect with friends I've lost touch with.  

One step at a time dear ones x  Thank you for keeping me company today, it means more than I can tell you 😊 Till next time, hugs always xx