sources of happiness...

this is for future me. these are things that i’ve taken up that just make me happier. if future me is unhappy, check this list.

• when i get in the truck don’t listen to podcasts - listen to music. listen to interesting and fun music. hell, listen to the shit you’ve been listening to since you were a pusshead teenager. podcasts will only raise the cortisol levels. i might learn something, but i’ll arrive at my destination irritated and music serves to tickle your heart.
• read books, paper books. buy them used and don’t be precious about them. carry them around the house so you can read while cooking, etc. you used to do this pre-internet and the phone replaced it. FFS dude, you read infinite jest on the bus heading downtown in your early 20s. it might have even got you laid a couple of times.
  • read fiction - not too much, but enough to amuse yourself and think about things differently. don’t listen to snobs and don’t be one.
  • read poetry - you won’t get a lot of it; that’s ok.
• put the books app prominently on your phone and use it when waiting. even mastodon can be a time suck, use things on screens in moderation or when you’re actively at a desk.
  • corollary - don’t consume media which doesn’t have an end. this is the beauty of forums and mastodon. it’s not an infinite scroll, when you reach the end, you’ve reached the end. go do something else.
• scribble notes on paper to help you lock things in your noggin. obsidian’s great and all, but when you take a beat and scribble something down, you’re exercising something very different. you can feel this, this is weirdly satisfying and i would contend it’s better for you.
• get outside every damn day. having been mobility constrained for a couple of months, remember the giddy feeling you had when you just got outside the house and don’t take that for granted.