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Snowflake Challenge Day 1 (belated)
Day 1
In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I just got back from a visit to my brother's place in Bend, Oregon, so catching up with the journal didn't happen until this morning. I am so damn lucky in my family: my brother is whip-smart on several levels, including the emotional, he married a woman beautiful both inside and out - who complements him where he lacks (planning!) and they have two lovely children who adore me and who I adore in turn. I only visited once last year before this NY visit, and I'm going to have to try harder this year to see them more often.
Even his in-laws are great! I miss living in the same town as them, but while I wouldn't move away from Seattle, it's a fun place to visit just outside of the family - wide open skies and beautiful mountains. I'm still discovering all the different drives down from Seattle, though it's a nice 1-hour flight as well.
So that's one of the great joys in my life.
The small joys:
Tea, and reading and small games: repetitive matching or card games that don't require too much planning. Those three things are necessary for my daily life.
Creative joys:
Knitting, beading and writing - all of those were mostly paused during the last seven months of work hell, so I'm going to try to pick them up again. I visited Shipwreck Beads on the way down to Bend, and bought some seed beads to play with in the new year. I attempted Nanowrimo, and while I didn't finish, I did take enough mental health days off to finish one fic, which I posted on Christmas. The kudos have been a beautiful return gift, and the comments remind me that yes, I can do this.
Which leads to - Fandom:
All the creativity and fun - how did I miss this on my first edit? In more specificity, I'm having oodles of fun in the Hobbit fandom, reading and writing and just thinking about dwarves. (I also play a dwarf in our biweekly tabletop RPG.)
Work:
I've been moved back to my old team, starting yesterday. I'm rediscovering the joys of working again, but I also feel like it's a bittersweet situation: mentally, I'm out the door already, and I just need to prepare for my departure. In the meantime: there's my small jungle of plants, some of my coworkers and the mental stimulation of a tricksy digital security investigation.
Recharging:
Walking. I'm too out of shape to run just yet, and while I love swimming, there's that lap-lane rage issue I have to deal with. I have a beautiful large park across the way from my house: my full, looping path for Pokemon Go-ing is over 5 miles. Past the small sailboat launch and the children's garden, the off-leash dog park and the long shoreline walk, back through the reclaimed wetlands: I see wildlife (mostly birds) and open water, and there are always points, even in a busy park, where I can be alone and just breathe.
Day 1: happy places
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