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My List of Little Joys – August 2019
Here is my latest list of little joys, part of my effort to focus on the things that I am thankful for and to remember all the little moments in life worth celebrating.
Keeping track of little joys has helped me to see that there is more to my reality than just the problems I’m facing. There are lots of reasons to smile, laugh, and enjoy life, even during rough times.
I’ve been recording some of the things that make me grateful as my own spin on gratitude journaling.
I’m glad I’m revisiting this style of post because *usually* summer offers me a little relief from fatigue and pain and symptoms—and unfortunately, that has definitely not been the case this summer. The weather has been so sporadic that I’ve not been able to benefit from consistenly warm days. We’ve had a day or two of balmy weather, then rain, and the rapid changes in weather sends my fibromyalgia, dysautonomia, and asthma into a tailspin.
It’s rough feeling worse when you were anticipating feeling better. I’m just realizing now how much I was banking on having some more time to write and go do things with friends this summer. Now summer is more than halfway gone, and I’m honestly feeling a bit robbed of my favorite season. (Can anyone relate?)
So I’m recording the highlights from the last couple months in a deliberate effort to remind myself that I *have* been able to do fun things this summer. Also, I want to try to focus more on the good.
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How to Benefit from Organizing When You Have No Energy
Sometimes I just want to go on an organizing or cleaning spree. I’m one of those people who gets an inordinate amount of satisfaction from tidying things up and putting things in order. I love the feeling of looking around and seeing everything tucked away where it belongs—it’s like a puzzle piece clicking into place. An organized space helps me to feel accomplished, refreshed, and peaceful. When I need to de-stress, organizing is actually very relaxing.
I would very much love to benefit from organizing, but my energy level simply says “no.” My chronic health conditions mean I burn out super easily—something as mundane as taking a shower or sitting at my computer for 20 minutes can make me feel as if I ran a marathon.
I was super bummed to think I’ve lost a major way to de-stress that I depended on. Now more than ever, I could use some tried and true ways to decompress!
So instead of throwing out organizing, I’m rethinking it. How can I still benefit from tidying even though my energy is nonexistent? I’ve thought of some ideas to share with you.
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My List of Little Joys – April 2019
Here is my latest list of little joys, part of my effort to focus on the things that I am thankful for and to remember all the little moments in life worth celebrating.
Knowing I’m going to be recording things that make me feel more joyful has helped me to keep up with my goal of gratitude journaling, and journaling in general, more often.
I honestly needed this practice in place over the last couple months. I’ve faced quite a few health setbacks recently, including a sinus infection, an injury, reacting badly to a new medicine I tried, and having to stop a treatment that was helping me, plus worsening insomnia due to tachycardia. Whew, it’s easy to get bogged down and overwhelmed when you see a lot of things going wrong, and it’s easy to dwell on them. Keeping track of little joys has helped me to see that there is more to my reality than just the problems I’m facing. There are lots of reasons to smile, laugh, and enjoy life, even during rough times.
