I've been struggling lately in that I'm not content with where I am in life.
I'm a junior in college, living in a suburb of Chicago. My major is something I love, but honestly isn't practical. I'm about 8 hours away from my family. I do live with my girlfriend of over three years, which is nice. However, I'm surrounded by such negative people. The other two guys I live with are negative and condescending, as are my coworkers. I do have plans later on in life that include joining the Peace Corps and moving to Portland.
In the mean time, I feel as if I'm in a rut. So Hubskinites, can you relate? If so, what do you all do to become genuinely happy?
EDIT: I've come to realize that Hubskinites are very nice, happy, positive thinking people.
For me, age has unravelled my unhappiness. As the days pile behind me, I find myself unpeeled layer by layer, a set of nesting Russian dolls, my heart in the center. When I was younger I had a set of criteria that I thought would make me happy: a partner, my own house, a career as a writer. Decades later, I have none of these things; I am still living at the poverty level, I am alone after a relationship that didn't take, I rent a small house, I write and write and write but sell precious little. It used to bug the hell out of me. But then, as time passed, I began to learn more things about myself. I have a gift with animals and have rescued two companion parrots, two dogs, and rehabilitated them. I can learn anything I put my mind to - anything at all. I learned to do cartwheels when I was 40! I taught myself to crochet! I took up salsa, and am a damned amazing dance partner, yo! When I let go of my criteria for happiness and figured I would be a miserable old lady with no one and nothin' in my pockets, I started to find happiness. I may yet meet the criteria. I might meet the man who sees the eternal in my eyes, I might finish the educational process I just began this past fall and get a Real Job (instead of this barista insanity) and save enough to buy a little cottage, I might write the Next Great American Zombie Novel. Hell, who knows what might happen?! But today, I can put on some great Latin music and dance like crazy, I can make you a gorgeous winter scarf, I can cook you the best green chile you've ever had. And somehow, that has become enough. But only because of time, time, time, the roll of wind across the dead prairie, the millions of footsteps in my wake.
Beautiful.
I very much like your writing, even if my only glimpse of it is this post. Could you link up some of your books so I can check them out? I love how you live in the moment. You seem like a very kind person.When I let go of my criteria for happiness and figured I would be a miserable old lady with no one and nothin' in my pockets, I started to find happiness
Hi BLOB-CASTLE (love your name, it is wonderfully strange), My little blog is linked in my profile here, and there are links to my writings there. Thanks for your kind words.
Haha why thank you. It's related my real name in that my first name is Robert (when then makes Bob, then Blob [no relation to weight. I'm actually underweight haha]) and then my last name is Spanish for "castle." Thus my username was born. I will definitely check those out, thanks.
Great combination for a username! I'm fluent in Spanish (live in New Mexico) and like the twist. Of course my username is just my name and then "little" because I'm not a very big person, ha ha.
Very nice, I used to have relatives in Roswell. Very beautiful drive there from KC (from what I can remember was a 5 year old). Hey, what every works!
You may not have a "career" as a writer, if a career is defined by pay. But, you're definitely giving joy with you're writing here, at least that's my guess. I can only attest for one person, but from where I sit your a damn fine writer and I enjoy what you have to say.
You are a kind and generous man, thenewgreen. I am grateful for your friendship here. This is a wonderful community, and it is allowing me to express myself in new ways. I'm so glad I'm here at hubski. There are precious few things as marvelous as making new friends and sharing deep stories. Thank you.
PS. I just checked the "community" link on the left side of the screen and you are currently the most popular commenter on Hubski. Woo-hoo!!
Goodness gracious! That has to be a bugski! I'm too new to be one of the cool kids!
Aside: I think we should develop a way to archive and share collectios of posts, which we each personally curate, with others. I should be able to click on your name and see "Littlebirdies Archives" and there you could custom name your lists. mk what do you think? Sorry for the aside littlebirdie, I'm excited to get to know you better. Would you ever be interested in participating in a Hubski podcast? I record them and they are topical and consist of hubskiers. I have a feeling you'd make a great contributor. You can see them here: #tngpodcast -lil contributed to the Public Speaking one. Let me know.I'm so glad I'm here at hubski.
that's wonderful to hear, I'm so glad you enjoy it and that you feel comfortable expressing yourself in our midst. I'm glad you found us. It's funny, we've been here for a little while now and we have a back-log of some really interesting posts that I keep wanting to direct everyone to.
I would LOVE to participate in a podcast! I have a face for radio! Ha ha. I used to do podcasts when I was blogging about Avon, a few years back now. (Here's a funny Avon story I podcasted: https://soundcloud.com/birdiejaworski/balls-to-the-wall ) I have no idea what I could contribute, but I can certainly blab on with the best of 'em. I love the idea of curating posts; I have seen conversations come and go - and participated in a few - that were amazing, and wished that new folks could find them easily. I wonder what cool gems I've missed, being a newbie here.
I love it! Selling Avon products to men in bowling alleys. Also, the squawk of your bird in the background ads an interesting texture.
Can't stop the signal... the birds rule! That was Sunny in the background:
Sunny's beautiful. I once tried out a bass player and went to his house to play with him. I couldn't concentrate at all because his bird was really loud. While I think birds are wonderful and likely make great companions, I just don't have the patience for the squawking. My dogs bark a bit and even that tends to gnaw at my nerves. I like quiet.
Birds are not for the quiet, that's for sure. Sunny is LOUD and she drives my youngest son, 15, absolutely crazy some days. My African Grey, Ramses, is quiet most of the time. He only makes "cool" sounds - he knows about 200 words and phrases that he uses in context. And he will whistle and sing if I have Folk Alley playing up loud. He's partial to Johnny Cash. And who isn't, right?!
Do birds, like people, vary in how quiet or loud they are or is more about which type of bird you have African Grey etc...?
Different species of birds have different qualities, including things like types of sounds and levels of sound loudness. Conures - like beautiful Sunny - are terribly loud! They really are obnoxious, to be honest. Sunny can drive any sane person mad at times. Sunny doesn't sing like a canary, she squawks. It's not a pretty sound, and it's LOUD! Ack! I can quiet her by putting her in her cage and covering the cage with a blanket. She actually loves that and settles down. Sometimes it must be done. African Greys are completely different. They are stealthy, quiet, brilliant. They have the cognitive abilities of a six year old human child! Ramses can count, can ask for his favorite foods. He calls me by name. It's unnerving for those who don't realize a bird can do these things. These birds won't - and never - squawk. They will whistle beautiful tunes (well, the theme to Andy Griffith is our "flock song" and we all whistle it), they will use real human language, and they can mimic ANYTHING including the doorbell, my cell phone (a favorite, because I run for the phone and then realize it's the bird). They sound EXACTLY like what they mimic. It really is incredible. African Greys won't speak or whistle or make ANY noise if they don't know you. They just perch and stare. They only make noise in the presence of those they trust.
African grewys sound wonderful. How is it you became a bird enthusiast/pet owner? Who introduced you to this?
Even though I was given the name of a flying creature at birth, I didn't take up the care and feeding of parrots until ten years ago, when my son, who will be 18 in just 5 days, was in the second grade. He wrote a report on African Grey parrots for school and fell in love with them. My son has always been an old man - here's a funny story about him cooking on the car engine: http://myfairladyproject.com/my-fair-lady-project-blog/2012/... At 17, my son, Louis, stands 6 foot 7 inches tall, but back in the third grade his need to understand shot to seven feet, to the seven books I would see him stuff in his backpack “just in case” the teacher assigned silent reading time. His classmates copied paragraphs from the Word Book encyclopedia for their science report on African Greys, describing the birds’ natural habitat, but Louis dove deep, buried his brain in scientific paper and philosophical discourse. He typed a young naturalist’s volume and accompanied it with a roll-out hand-painted poster of the African Grey and His Family, perched on some Congo tree, enigmatic, ready to swoop into the hot dry air. Every trip to the Petco for dog food, Louis dragged me to the bird room to chat with a handsome grey fellow in a teeny corner cage. Fastened to the cage with a piece of dirty transparent tape was an index card with a hand-lettered warning in sharp, black Sharpie: I bite! “Please please please please please please please Moooooooooooooooooooooooooooom can’t we take him hooooooooommmmeeee??????” “Honey, look at the price tag. This bird costs one thousand, three hundred dollars. Plus, he bites,” I’d sigh. “Someone will come along and give him a nice home.” But no one did. Month after month passed and the grey bird’s price dropped to eight hundred dollars, then six, then four. My kid continued to harass me, citing examples of exemplary greys and their owners. “Mom, African Grey parrots have the cognitive abilities of five-year-old child. They can learn to speak, in context, over two-thousand words. You can potty train them! King Louis the Fourteenth had an African Grey, and MY name is Louis. Besides, some scientists even think they’re psychic.” The parrot would stare us down with one steel eye, with feathers rough and broken from constant caged boredom. We would stand at attention, our hands safely behind our backs, and intone the phrases man has uttered all these parrot-loving years. Pretty bird. Pretty bird. Polly wanna cracker? As we turned to leave the bird room the bird would catcall the wolf whistle, turn his lonely face to the cement-brick wall. It broke Louis’ heart. One night I ran to the pet store alone, but made my way to the bird room out of habit. The parrot perched in the far corner of his cage, preening his three remaining red tail feathers. The tattered index card was missing and the price tag was gone. I figured someone finally bought him and was preparing to take him home. At the checkout I made small talk with the clerk. “So hey! That African Grey finally found a home, eh?” She scanned my twenty-five pounds of kibble. She spoke to the register as if I didn’t exist. “No, he has behavioral problems. The manager decided to euthanize him. They’re going to put him in the freezer when we close up.” So the biting bird became a part of the family zoo that night. Louis named him Ramses, after the Egyptian pharaoh. I bought a huge cage on clearance and built a fake tree out of manzanita branches for him to perch on during the day. “Ramses,” I told him, as he shivered in fright and confusion, the new cage a silver monster in his five-year-old-child’s mind, “I know you only bite people because you were stuck in a tiny cage for two years. I won’t ever close your cage. Just take your time.” It took over a year of patience, of time, of allowing Ramses to bite me until he realized I would never, ever react with anything but love. Today he follows me around the house, chit-chatting, repeating his name over and over and imitating our nasal-voiced mailman. He’s pathologically attached to me and tolerates the rest of the brood. Of course, Louis tells everyone he knows that he - personally and singularly - owns an African Grey.
Ramses is doing great! Right this moment, he's going through a difficult molt. It happens every few years. So, he's a bit grumpy. But he loves me more than anything, and we have so much fun together. His latest phrase is "Hey, sexy!" (said in my voice) Where he picked THAT up, I've no idea! But it makes all of us laugh and laugh, so he says it often.
Great story, glad that you guys found each other. Having a friend that can mimic your voice must be an unusual thing, especially when it's a bird with the smarts of a 5 year old. I imagine it makes for some comedy.
Ramses has a joke that he tells! He made it up himself! This is how it goes: "Bird. Bird bird bird bird bird birrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!" and then he laughs, hysterically, as if that's the funnies thing on the planet! It always cracks me up. What is he thinking?!
I have a lot of different hobbies. Programming, working on cars, playing music, etc, but all are united by one theme. Being able to enjoy the fruits of my labor, in any realm, is what makes me happy. Bringing something to a close, even a small something, and being able to say, "hey, I did that" makes me happy. So wrestling with a bunch of code for hours and then seeing it work, that feels damn good. Or putting my foot down on the accelerator after working on my car for a while will just put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Or being able to play a song that I struggled with for hours, I'll be bobbing my head and humming once I'm done playing. If you're stuck in a rut, dream for a bit, as in, think about where you want to be and how you can get there. And then go out and do what you like doing, but make a list of what you want to accomplish. I think once you are able to cross off an item on that list, you might feel pretty good. I don't know, that's what makes me happy, it might work for you too.
This actually helped a lot, thank you. I'm a musician too, I'm in college right now studying jazz. I have a bunch of tunes that I've been writing for a while but haven't finished. Maybe I'll start working on those. I have dreamt, and actually recently realized that my ultimate dream is to be like this guy and live without money. But that'll take a lot of time as I already have to start paying off a bunch of student debt before I can do that.
Being in transition. Whether that be on a train from home to school, driving on the weekend, or just being on the toilet. The feeling that I get when I know I can do nothing with that time and it doesn't matter, its a really good release from all the responsibilities.
That's a really nice way of looking at things and I like that a lot.
1. wringing sweat out from my shirt after a run
2. Making music with friends
3. Hearing my new name spoken, "Daddy"
4. stepping outside to smoke a cigarette (a now dormant "happy activity") taken from a previous post What are the little things in life that make you happy?
I think having a family of my own one day will help a lot. To unconditionally love and to be unconditionally loved by a child sounds so perfect.
It is a wonderful thing, no doubt about it. But I would advise anyone to first be happy and comfortable in their own life prior to bringing another one in to the world. Having a child to become happy is a bad idea.
Very very good advice. I can assure you I will take that mote of wisdom with me into adulthood.
I'm stuck in a rut. I spend all of my time doing nothing - playing video games, watching movies and TV, mindlessly surfing the internet, masturbating - that kind of thing. And I hate myself for it. I'm unhappy and dissatisfied with myself and my life, and the fact that I know and fail to change how things are only makes me feel more ashamed. I mean, I have had so many chances to live a very good life, and yet here I am in the middle of nowhere. And I have so much to be doing. But there is time to change, and hope. Recently I saw this Cracked article and the third item resonated with me:
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-yo...
I would say you and I are in the same metaphorical boat. I feel like so many of my daily actions don't do anything for the rest of the world/ the good of humanity, and that's what I want my existence to be about. I feel like being here in a suburb of Chicago, there aren't very many opportunities to do so. I do acknowledge however that I might not be looking hard enough.
First off, I guess I'm in a similar rut. Every day seems to drag out endlessly. The days are long, the nights are even longer. I feel as if I'm separated from the world, numb and friendless. My family is going through some divisive issues at the moment and I know I'm seriously fucking up some of my relationships. My fraying tempers are definitely not helping. And typically, that's what I've found happens when I fall in a rut. It negatively affects the way I think and act, which in turn, makes it harder for me to become 'genuinely happy' again. It helps to know that really aren't that bad. My family has gone through similar situations in the past and made it out in one piece. And it's reassuring to know that I have close friends I can talk to, even if I'm not doing so right now. I have a clear goal for college, even if I don't know where it'll lead. Simply taking a moment to rest my mind and realize these facts- by meditating, by talking to a friend, or by posting anonymously online- helps me to focus my thoughts. Thanks.
No thank you man. It's nice to get it out there, even if you don't know the person. Simply realizing what's up can help so much.
Music! Whenever I feel down I listen to all of the music that I most love and it puts me in a great mood always. I'm not quite typical for how people like music. I feel like it's a very large part of my life. I like it because I feel very strongly that humans should listen to it! It evens us out, we like hearing things in a rhythm that is pleasurable to the ears. On a base level music with soothe the soul. I suggest broadening your horizons in this aspect.
Animals! I love my dog more than anything in the world. She is an endless source of joy and will always be there for me I know, even in spirit when she is gone. Other than physically seeing my dog I love all sorts of animals and being involved with them brings me a huge sense of satisfaction with my life. Volunteering at an animal shelter is one of the best things you can do to make you happy.
Exercise! Exercise is wonderful and always invigorates me and gives me a fresh feeling whenever I'm feeling down. A great way to really sweat out all of your bad feelings. The negativity of other people should never affect how you live your life. Having a positive outlook on life is one of the many joys of being human. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU This song has always helped me throughout my life. Try to have fun, whistle a little, go out with friends, cherish what you have, strive to achieve your goals, make the most of it! Cheers
I've taken up excersizing a bit recently, and I have noticed that it really does help. I'll give this a listen when I can and I'll let you know what I think.I like it because I feel very strongly that humans should listen to it!
It's very interesting that in most native cultures, it's such a strong part of their culture. It's as if we were meant to listen and create music.Having a positive outlook on life is one of the many joys of being human.
Amen.
I also suggest learning how to cook! I recently started making my food for myself all the time. I'm a college student as well. It's really satisfying in many ways. Knowing that you're eating delicious food that you made yourself is great. Plus girls lovee guys that can cook!
Oh yes, I love cooking. With how much time I work unfortunately I don't always have that pleasure.
Hi. Fellow Chicagoan here. Grew up near O'Hare. The joke in the neighborhood was that all of our conversations were interrupted mid-stream by the roar of airplane engines. Beyond geography, I can absolutely relate. But as littlebirdie says, unhappiness is tempered by age. Where I'm at now, pushing thirty, has narrowed and intensified my focus on what brings me happiness. Making people laugh is high on that list, and it's easily attained regardless of where I'm at physically/geographically, so long as there are other people around. When I'm alone, it's sound that brings me happiness. The ripples of delay out of a guitar amplifier or looping sounds in Ableton. Again, I can be anywhere to do this so long as the tools are available. Drilling down beyond the presence of amplifiers or other people, I am content with my thoughts and my memories, especially those that I've built with my girlfriend of many years. It's taken time to get here, and I hope it only gets better.
My freshman roommate grew up near there. Glen View I think was the name of his town. I do enjoy making others laugh as well. But something that I've only recently noticed, is that I try too hard to make others laugh, and in the end, push them away. Its definitely awesome to make others laugh, but I've learned it must be done tastefully.
Haha well I'm not too familiar with the northern suburbs. That's awesome that you do stand up! Do you have any shows lined up in the city sometime soon?
No worries, neither was I until I started working there :\. Grew up in 708, firmly entrenched in the 630 now. Jan. 12 @ Township, I'm told I'm hosting a comedy show there. Not sure if that's true as it doesn't exactly match what they have on their live schedule, but I've never been and so they could have more than one live space(?).
Well, simply put, video games. Not necessarily playing them, either. I'm an aspiring developer, 3d artist to be exact but also do some programming, and the reason it makes me so happy is because it's my absolute passion. All I want to do in life is, in the large scale of things, pour my imagination into virtual worlds and allow others to experience them. On the smaller level, I mainly specialize in environment art, but I hope to be a team lead for a game project someday in the future to really create one out of my head. But even if I won't get there, I'll still be happy being a grunt artist for whatever company I settle at, or maybe start my own. I love it more than anything else, and my work is what I live for. Other than that, I just love life. I love my friends (only the two, but I don't need more), I love my heritage and culture, I love everything I find fascinating and interesting and most importantly, no matter what happens, I always look at the bright side of life! Also marijuana.
Then you'll probably like this video Yes, marijuana is very very nice haha.
Oh my god, thank you so much for that video. It sums up my philosophy on life and passions so well. I actually wasn't going to go to college until recently, when I found a rather relevant program for myself. I also live in NYC so that video hit quite close to home (well, home is on the other side of the planet but I do live here now).
Yeah no problem. I actually found it on another thread. I found it to also, as you said, sum up my philosophies as well. I just want to do what I love. But really, who doesn't? If it's relevant, go for it.
It's absolutely relevant, it's probably not a quality degree on it's own, but as something to compliment my skills and buy me some more time before "getting out into the world" while doing what I love is something I can't turn down. Also, awesome thread. Thanks again!
I know what that's like. I'm halfway through my third year of getting a degree in Jazz Studies. While it's not very practical, it's what I love. Also, more positions do open up I've noticed when one has a degree in at something, no matter what it is. Yeah no problem. I watched all of them on there with the exception of the 45 minute one and it has been incredibly beneficial.
Watched the Tyson one... Really inspiring. I wish people paid more attention to space and people like him. Pretty late over here, will watch the others tomorrow. Best of luck with your jazz studies! And yeah, I realized that even if I could get a job I'd always be underpaid just for not having a degree. Pretty much how things work nowadays.
I found that there's a petition to raise the NASA budget on the White House website. It's about 10k away from the 25k mark to get reviewed. Definitely worth checking out. Thank you very much!
Yeah, that's the sad truth of it. There's definitely a level of just having to deal with it involved.
As far as I'm aware, those petitions are pretty meaningless though :\ Look how many have gotten the signatures only to to get some excuse of a response as to why they can't do anything about it (like the big one about marijuana some time back).
Yeah I do suppose you're right. Wishful thinking I suppose. But it's wishful thinking that can eventually get something done, right?
Hopefully so. If only we get enough people to start dreaming again!
Let's you and I egg them on to try to get a man on Mars before us. Do you know if they're bothered by how much exploration we've done recently? Also, how much have they done? Why stop at space though? Music, art, literature, thought...all of these could use a good nights sleep and let a dream rise.
Yeah. The world could use a good night's sleep, haha. I love the way you put that.
Why thank you. But seriously, what can be done? I listen to the music I listen to because I know of the thought, care, and the musicians understanding of the underlying concepts. That's why I listen mainly to jazz. The musicians are masters. Unlike whatever you hear on your local pop radio station. I want to change that and have people care again. I think I'll make a post dedicated to this haha.
I just went on an acid trip today (my first real one, where I really had the whole experience) and what you're saying is really the type of thought that I've been having all day, lol.
Here's an old hubski post where we talked a lot about acid :
http://hubski.com/pub?id=37345 And here's one of my comments in that thread, to someone who was considering their first trip :
"This is not a decision to be made lightly (IMHO). If you do decide to try it, be sure that you are in a safe place, with people you can trust. Preferably outdoors, in good weather. Avoid travelling, for your first time at least - you don't want to be trapped in a car or a bus, for example. Don't panic. Listen to music. If you are lying to yourself about anything in your life, you can expect to be reminded of it. It can be scary. It will probably be lots of fun, too. You will get a weird, unpleasant sensation in your gut when it starts - that feeling will subside, as it kicks in. Once it starts, you just have to ride it out, there's no way out except time (and you might feel like time is not passing at a normal rate). It's not like other drugs (well, except for mushrooms and mescaline - it IS a bit like those)." [edited to add this shout-out to BLOB_CASTLE]
I've never done acid. I'm down with marijuana because it's a natural occurring substance. There just something about man made things that I don't trust (it's why I never take medicine). Haha, I'm a living acid trip! Often times people think I'm high because when I'm sober, I act very similarly. Haha, one time at work, my boss stopped me to look to see if my eyes were red.
Trust me, you have no idea. Maybe you might act like you're high on weed a little bit, but an acid trip is a whole another dimension and there's no way I can even describe it to you (and noone really can, so take anything anyone says about it with a grain of salt, except that you shouldn't take too much of it).
Well alright then, I'll definitely keep that in mind!
Hey, I'm also en route to join the Peace Corps! Go us! I have personally struggled with depression for 13 years, and am known for not dealing with it in the best ways, unfortunately. My best solution is to do things for the people around me and to feel useful. I'm an RA at my school for first-year women...and it's nuts! It's really draining to be honest, but is so rewarding. I really love helping others, and giving myself a purpose. I also lift...a lot. And knit. I like hobbies :-)
Yeah a common theme seems to be hobbies and making others happy. What hobbies make others happy? Volunteering I suppose, yeah?
Well, my hobbies do tend to be things I do selfishly, like working out. I do that just for me, and my own well-being. I do love volunteering though, or happen to incorporate my hobbies into giving back. I said I liked knitting, right? Well there are some excellent charities that ask knitters to make hats for cancer patients that I like to donate to occasionally.
I was unaware of those charities, which are they? There's nothing wrong with a male that knits haha
Haha not at all! I like "Stitch 4 Life," which is a partnership between knitting circles and area hospitals, but I don't think that extends beyond where I am. You can always check in with your local hospital, though. Lion brand yarn also has a way to find charities in your area.
Do it! There is an incredible wealth of resources online. I like Knitting Help for the basics. Lots of good books too. [Ravelry](www.ravelry.com) is the go-to for patterns. If you search for male knitters on google you'll find plenty of sites and communities for the dudefolk too. Happy knitting!
Thanks for the links! It just so happens that two storefronts down from my work, a yarn and thread shop opened up just a few weeks ago!
Haha I am not one to believe in fate, but an excellent coincidence. Yarn shops sometimes have knitting circles or workshops too. Good luck with it!
Thanks! Could you post some images of stuff you've made?
The only image I have of my handknits is my current project. (
) ...Meaning I did it today haha. I'm speeding through a basic set of dishrags for my ma while I'm home for the holidays. I just "bind off" this one, and will finish it (sew in the ends) soon. I plan to have a pile of them soon. Only takes a few hours to do one.
That looks really awesome! I really want to start making my own clothing (socks, gloves, hats, etc.)
Start with squares (scarves, dish rags, etc), work into circles (hats), and then into squares plus circles (gloves, socks). Get a book that does a good progression into those kinds of projects. Best way to find what you want would be to go into that knitting shop and browse! It's not hard, just a steep learning curve, and an ability to be okay with everything looking cruddy the first time, and better the next :-)
Yeah right! Tell me, how pleasant is it to disc golf when there're inches of snow on the ground???
So kind of like a quarrel or so, with spheres of snow?
Making music, working out and making a good meal to someone. Anything that makes others feel good makes me feel good and happy.
Rock climbing and Brazilian jiu jitsu are my to happy pastimes. Backpacking is pretty high on the list too. All three keep me so involved that for the times I'm doing any of them I can't think of anything else. Almost a type of meditation
The happiest I've ever been was hiking at Arches National Park in Utah. I'd love to do it more often.
I've always wanted to go to arches, looks beautiful.
It's so beautful. Nearby is Canyonlands National Park, which is where 124 (or however many) Hours was filmed. It's more for the person who is about hiking without trails or cairns to lead the way. That's my next vacation hopefully.
I don't think it's necessarily anything I do, but I tend to be happy regardless of what's happening, simply because the alternative sucks. It's not really a forced happiness, but it is chosen, and after a while it becomes completely natural to just be happy for no goddamn reason other than that being happy makes me happy.
You know, you're completely right. Why the hell do I choose to be upset and unhappy? It sucks. I'm going to focus my efforts to just be happy. Because you're right, it is a choice. Thank you.
Just a warning about this kind of mindset: I often end up in a sort of contentment with my lifestyle, regardless of how unhealthy it is. A certain amount of discontent is good for motivation and building up that motivation for an unpleasant activity (such as studying) is difficult when you're happy regardless of the fruit of your labor.
"Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln
Family, friends, a good story to get away. I know how you feel though. Right now I'm 21 years old and am a shift manager at a retail store. I've been working 35 hours a week and saving up the little bit that I can but my co-worker is coming back from college so I'll probably get my hours cut in half. After that I'm probably going to join the military unless some kind of miracle happens. I live with my family and all together there are 8 of us. We rent a small house and all pitch in to keep it running smoothly. My Dad has been in and out of jobs (he can only find contract work) so that's been tough on all of us. I try to keep positive by looking at the bright side of things. There is always something in your life that you can be thankful for, no matter how hard it gets. Sure, there are going to be negative people, and they're going to be negative no matter what you do. I find that the best thing you can do around these people is to not join in with their negativity. Put a smile on your face and know that things are going to get better because you are going to make them better.