One idea both my therapist and my fiancee proposed to me recently, was to make a list of things I really enjoy. This might enhance my mood, or give me something to read over when I’m feeling down. So here it is: 52 relatively small things that I enjoy doing, seeing, or otherwise participating in.
Why 52? Well, I wanted at least 50. The initial list was about a dozen items long, and then I kept adding to it until I passed the 50-threshold. I tried keeping it to an even 50, but I went a bit over that, and couldn’t find anything to combine or delete.
A few clarifications: I tried to keep it to small, repeatable things. For example, my recent trip to Hawaii was amazing, but that is not very small. Likewise, attaining my 4-year degree provided me with a wonderful sense of accomplishment, but it’s not repeatable. Also, I tried to provide a variety of things. Like most people, I could easily have made this a list of 50 movies I like to watch, or 50 foods I enjoy eating, but I didn’t want the list to become narrowly focused. I tried to avoid schadenfreude (and except for #41 and 49, I think I did) because I was trying to be completely positive here. Finally, the list is rated G, by which I mean I only listed things that I would feel comfortable having my underage children read. Understand?
Okay, here it is:
1. When I pull into a parking space, and the spot in front of mine is open, so I can pull through and then, when it’s time to leave, I don’t have to back out.
2. When it is snowing and it’s after dusk, and the new white snow is lit only by the moon and the streetlights and the Xmas lights, and it forms just the perfect bib on the roof of my little free library, and I am watching this from the comfort of my living room.
3. Tea.
4. Pretty much any food made from potatoes.
5. Tacos.
6. When I’m listening to a good song, and the best part comes on.
7. When I take off my socks at the end of the day and I scratch my ankles.
8. When I am at one of the top floors of a tall building, and I look out at the vista.
9. The sights, sounds, and smells of a bonfire. Bonus: I smell it on my clothes hours later!
10. The smell of bookstores.
11. When I get a new book.
12. Cacti. They’re such bad ass plants.
13. Petrichor.
14. When it’s spring, and the ice closest to the ground has melted, but the ice just above that has not melted yet, and so I can step on it, and it cracks.
15. When I go to bed at night…and it’s raining. Bonus: It’s a thunderstorm!
16. When I wake up in the morning and I’m just so comfortable I don’t want to move at all because everything feels just right. Bonus: There’s a purring cat curled up next to me.
17. When my elbow/ankle/wrist/knee/neck/back/finger/toe feels a little stiff, and I get it to crack.
18. When someone distracts me from reading a book, and I realize I was so into it that I forgot the rest of the world was even happening.
19. Playing board/card/dice games – especially ones that rely more on skill than luck.
20. Maps.
21. When I’m at one of those restaurants where they just set a basket of bread on the table. Bonus: Instead of bread, it’s chips and salsa!
22. When I step into a swimming pool and the water temperature is perfect.
23. When I get a haircut, and they shave my neck.
24. Optical illusions. Especially that one that makes it look like wheels are going backward.
25. When I approach a vending machine, and there’s change sitting in the coin return.
26. When I’m about halfway through watching a film, and I realize, wow – this is better than I thought it would be. Bonus: I’m 90% of the way through a film and I realize it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen.
27. When I hear or read a bit of trivia, because – holy cow! – that is so interesting!
28. Peeling off labels and wrappers.
29. That first time in the fall when I have to close the windows and turn on the heat, and that first time in the spring when I get to open the windows.
30. When I get to update one of my lists. I keep lists of everything – big ones include my lists of books I’ve read and movies I’ve viewed.
31. When I get a card or a letter in the mail. Or money.
32. When I’m somewhere with minimal light pollution and the night sky looks amazing. Bonus: I brought my telescope with me.
33. Bicycling or walking to a destination.
34. When I’m riding my bike, and the odometer displays something significant, like 123 or 500.
35. Any day that I don’t have to drive anywhere. Bonus: Any day that I don’t have to get into a car at all.
36. When I enter a conference room at work, and there are leftovers from a prior meeting.
37. Traveling past a mobile home park. Yeah, this is probably the weirdest one on this list. I can’t explain it. There’s just such a certain nostalgia.
38. When I successfully dislodge a food particle from between my teeth.
39. When I’m pushing a cart or hand-truck, and the opportunity to ride it arises.
40. When a circular object does this:
41. When I sneak food or beverages into a movie theater. Yeah, theatergoing is so bad now, this is really the biggest joy I get from the experience.
42. Watching birds at a feeder or a birdhouse. Bonus: There’s a bird sitting on my arm!
43. When I sit in my living room, or really any room in the house, and it’s so clean it is just perfect and I can’t even find anything to correct.
44. Giving out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.
45. Collecting swag at conferences.
46. When I pull out my Viewmaster collection and watch a few reels.
47. Kayaking, canoeing, paddleboating, or paddleboarding
48. Flipping something, like this:
49. When a credit card company mails me an offer, and I rip up the offer, put it in their “no postage necessary” envelope, and mail it back to them.
50. Listening in on the Wassip Session.
51. Doing jigsaw puzzles.
52. When I visit a museum, historical site, zoo, library, or monument.