What makes me happy right now: a list

 

I've curbed my Buzzfeed habit quite a bit, but occasionally I still stumble over there and find some things that are notable.

 

Today I found a journal that I thought of buying. I resisted immediately buying it, particularly after I found that when I use the "Look inside" feature, I can read the table of contents, which gives me all the info I need to fill out the journal on my own, without actually having it in my hot little hands.

 

The journal is a compilation of 52 lists for happiness. I thought, Hmm, these are very bloggable.

 

Now, I'm not the type of blogess or person to promise something such as: Every week I will respond to one of these prompts and blog it for you.

 

Here's why I won't promise that: because it may not happen. I don't want to hold myself to a task that, while a worthwhile one, is not necessary. Because if I don't do it, I'll potentially upset readers, and I might upset myself for not living up to something. I think if I'm going to get upset for not doing things it should be things like brushing my teeth and being nice to people. If I'm not doing those things, I should get angry with Bailey Kathleen. But I don't need to berate myself for not journaling via blog once a week. No point.

 

So anywho. What I am willing to "promise" you is that today I will write my response to the first prompt in the journal. Which is: List what makes you happy right now.

 

I know that what I wrote earlier today is kind of along these exact same lines, but I'm going to do this prompt anyway.

 

So let's do this:

 

First, let me say that I'm going to define "right now" as this month, more or less. January 2017. K? Great.

 

What makes me happy right now

by Bailey Brewer

• Max. I love that he wants to be in my lap or at least on the bed pretty much all the time. I love when I don't realize he's in the closet and I see his little face peeking out from my clothes. I love picking him up and lifting his squirmy back feet into my palm and then fingering the white bib under his chin. I love his rumbling purr and that he's never slow to exude it.

• Writing letters. I love that there is limited space in a stationery card to write, so that I can be done in a few minutes. I love that my sloppy handwriting is legible enough, because I don't want to have to slow down in order to make my script decipherable and I don't want to be forced to type because that looks so much less personal. I love thinking of why people make me happy and putting that in writing. I love writing about whatever I want -- what I ate for breakfast, the book I just read; there are no rules, and there needn't be an occasion to warrant a letter. I love letting the people I love know that they are important to me and that I think of them even when they're not around. I love that I'm using up my vast collection of greeting cards, and I don't mind that I will soon have to buy more stamps.

• The break from Facebook. Facebook has long been a quick hit for me, my #1 way to waste time. I am so frightened and upset and overwhelmed these days, though, with all the news and everyone's opinions. I understand a lot of those opinions, agree with a lot of them, but I'm so sensitive to the noise. There's very little nice swirling around on the Internet, and when there is a lot of it is a counteraction to the not nice, rather than being organic. Don't get me wrong, I'm trying to inject as much happy as I can in social media, to counteract the not happy, but it's saddening to see so many positive things being prefaced with something about how we all need it. I guess I don't want to think about everything being gone to s*** and so we have to force ourselves to be happy. I just want to focus on the positive and let more positive breed from that. I don't know if I'm making sense. Anyway, all that to say, that while I miss having a social media fun place to poke around in, I think it's good to interact more with other things in this world -- books, friends, strangers, corners of my life that need to be organized.

• Discovering great movies. My favorite things I've seen on Netflix, all that were new to me, are: Night Owls, Little Sister, and Beautiful Girls. They all made me feel good, left me ruminating, and/or gave me the urge to tell others about them.

•  My clean-ish room. In a scramble for two dear friends to come visit last weekend, I worked and worked to get my space so much cleaner than it has been. My closet is not Martha Stewart approved, but it is very organized. I have a lot of clothes, still, but I'm happier with my pared down collection than what was there in excess before. I feel way less stressed and shameful sitting in my room now, and when my friends were in town I wasn't embarrassed about trash or a smelly litter box, etc. etc. I could focus on hosting, rather than tucking things out of view.

• Connecting. I just had the best time at Alex's birthday party this week. It was one of those perfect nights where I was perfectly on. I was almost hyper, but not quite. I was chatty, but able to listen. I enjoyed so many of the people I talked to. I enjoyed that the bar wasn't super crowded. I loved that probably two thirds of the people inside were there for Alex; he's so well loved and deserves to be. The pizza we had delivered was cold by the time it got to me (I gave the birthday boy first dibs), but still yummy, and I was grateful for the nourishment. For once in my life the people around me were more important than the disc of cheesy, saucy bread before me.* I liked that feeling. I regretted my hangover the next day, but I didn't regret the social interactions.

*That makes me sound like a total jerk. I don't know what to do with that. But this is a journal entry; people make ugly confessions in journals, yes?

 

All right, Homies, I feel like that's enough for now. What makes you happy right now?