1) Whiskey. But I probably shouldn’t write that where my mother might see it.

2) The Wedding People by Alison Espach. It’s quite cathartic to read about a woman trying to kill herself. 

3) Running three miles on a Thursday evening, after not running for months. I said that day that I’m afraid my life would improve if I started running again regularly, but I haven’t tested that. Just the one day. It was a good run though.

4) That “Do the Next Right Thing” song from Frozen II that my child kept playing.

5) The fact that my husband was down with a torn disc in his back and my child was a child, and I love them, and I want them to be taken care of.

6) Hot baths, with bubbles and candles and sparkling water in shiny black stainless steel goblets.

7) Writing with my black quill pen that has to be dipped in ink.

8) Wearing clothes I like. 

9) Cuddling with my child and watching Once Upon a Time.

10) Tidying up my house. Luckily, this one can be done endlessly.

11) The welcome mat my husband bought for me, which has a black cat and the words “Welcome, Peasants” on it.

12) Working. Obviously. Nothing like some deep financial analysis to drown out the inner demons.

13) Ted Lasso, which both makes me laugh out loud and has such a soothingly depressing theme song.

14) Making pickled onions again. 

15) Studying chess, which reminded me of that Jordan Peterson thing about how we can choose to learn whatever we want but we can’t control what interests us. Chess interests me.

16) The knowledge that F1 returns in March.

17) Lighting candles with matches at every opportunity.

18) ChatGPT. But I don’t want to admit that publicly for fear of judgment.

19) The way my three-year-old says “It’s back!” every time she sees a sunset.

20) Staring at the white carnations on my kitchen table.

21) Staring at the gold mushroom on my living room end table, which was given to me by my friend, who I like a lot.

22) Eating Grillo’s dill pickles. All other dill pickles have been ruined for me.

23) Asking various different people if they feel like it’s easy to be mentally well. I’m still taking answers, if you feel like sharing your perspective.

24) So much sparkling water.