The news is full of gloom and doom lately. Here in the UK we are struggling with Brexit; the sheer idiocy of it all and the total lack of leadership from the government. I am not even going to start with the US, we all know the dumpster fire that’s going on there. In all this, it’s very hard to see a silver lining, to feel even a shimmer of joy. I have been stuck in a funk of doom myself for the past few weeks, but today I realised that life’s not all that bad.
I have been absent from all my writing projects for the past few weeks. I was just too busy to produce anything creative, and being away from writing plunged me into further gloom. I hate not being able to express myself and I even withdrew from my bullet journal. Finally writing a blog post yesterday kind of broke the downward spiral I was in and today I have been feeling a lot more optimistic.
So, what are some of the good things in my life?
I have a puppy
Although having a new puppy in the house created a lot of stress and general busyness (seriously, it’s like having a baby again!), I am SO happy we made the decision to get a dog. Dogs are amazing and our little one is SO cute! 
I mean, look at that squishy face! He follows me everywhere and loves a cuddle, so I can’t complain!
I am being paid to write
I have recently started writing for a website and am being paid for it! It’s not a lot of money each month, but it’s fantastic to be paid for something I love doing. I am writing under my legal name (rather than my pen name), so won’t be sharing the website on this blog, but I am nevertheless super excited about having been given this opportunity.
I won’t have to worry about housing anymore
As much as I hate moving house, and as much as this house move added a LOT of stress to my life, owning our own home means we are no longer at the mercy of landlords. We have been able to paint our rooms the way we want to and have already done some modifications to the bathroom and kitchen to make them more to our liking. Our kids – especially our youngest – are less anxious and we feel so fortunate we have been able to purchase our own home.
I’m writing again
After writing my blog post yesterday, I started writing fiction again and it feels so good! It’s hard to get motivated to write sometime, but if I take a little bit of time each day to write a little bit, I can keep going and I feel so much better. Sometimes when life gets me down, I totally stop doing the things that I actually like doing, so in that way, I am my own worst enemy.
We are all healthy
It seems like a small thing, but we as a family are all healthy and the kids are doing well at school. They are both enjoying school this year (what a contrast to last year!) which is such a blessing.
Life is still tough and there is much uncertainty in the world right now. But looking at some of the little (and not so little) things in my own personal life that give me joy makes everything a little bit better.
So what are the things that give you joy or that keep you going?
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