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Thursday, November 05, 2020

Three Happy Things

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling a lot better this morning than I was yesterday or the day before. I know we still need to be patient, but I am feeling more and more confident that we'll have a good outcome.

To keep my mood up, I've been trying to focus on good, happy things as much as possible this week. It's Thursday, so I'm joining Carole and friends with three things that have been improving my mood this week.

1. Daily exercise
I will fully admit that I've been consuming more junk food the past several days (whose idea was it to have Election Day fall right after Halloween?!), but I've also been making a point to get out and exercise just about every day. I have been trying to keep up with my running and generally do a schedule of run two days, walk one day, which my knees seem to appreciate. We all know exercise is important in general, but I've found that it really makes a difference in reducing my stress level and improving my sleep. I guess I really did a good job of it on Tuesday -- this is what my FitBit recorded:


I normally get about 12K steps per day lately, so that was a really surprising number to me!

2. Good weather
This time of year is when I start to feel the effects of seasonal affective disorder because the days are shorter and are more likely to be gloomy. Last week was definitely a gloomy one. But this week has been fantastic -- it's not only sunny, it's unseasonably warm!


Look at that weekend forecast! We haven't seen my in-laws in a while because it hasn't been warm or dry enough to be outside, but it looks like we'll definitely be able to manage a get-together this weekend.

3.  Design inspiration
Yesterday morning I made the point of listening to knitting podcasts while I was out on my walk (I also listen to a number of non-knitting podcasts that tend to be longer and thus often accompany me when I exercise). I wanted to focus on happy stuff, and knitting is definitely happy stuff. All that knitting talk got me really excited about starting a design I've been thinking about for a while, so when I came home I dug these two skeins out of my stash:


These are from Marianated Yarns, and I'm planning to use them for a brioche cowl. Yesterday I also realized I could do a hat to match. I'm not sure I can get both items out of these two skeins, but nevertheless I am excited to get going. So far I've restrained myself from winding the yarn (because I really want to finish my sweater before starting something new), but depending on how the day goes I might break down and do it later today.

I hope you can find some happy things to distract you from the waiting and the stress of uncertainty today. Keep breathing, friends! I think we're almost there!

7 comments:

  1. I'm also glad for good November weather here in NJ. If we're anxiously waiting, far better to do it in sunshine and pleasant temps than chilly November gloom. Those skeins go together beautifully, and although it might be a while with counting and legal challenges, I hope you get to wind and cast on soon in celebration. Keep up the patience and hope!

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  2. Such happy things, indeed! I don't know about you, but nice weather always makes me want to get in a good exercise session. Crummy weather makes it harder for me to uncurl :) Yesterday, while trying to sooth my anxious nerves, I went through the house and opened every. single. window. And I said out loud, "Thank God it's a warm, sunny day. This would be so much harder in cold & dreary." Enjoy your weekend ahead--and the opportunity to gather outdoors!

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    1. Absolutely agree! There were days in the summer when it was like walking through soup and I was covered head to toe in sunblock that I couldn't wait to get back in the air conditioning, but in November? I want to be out in the sun as much as possible.

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  3. Ooh! Those two yarns will look fantastic together! Hope you enjoy your warm up.

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  4. I need some knitting podcast recommendations. Love listening to knitting while I walk

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  5. I chatted with Juliann today and she said you shared a few knitting podcast recs with her - maybe you can do a blog post?! seems like playing catchup has become my norm (GAH!) and I am so impressed with how you kept it together this week. You even made real progress on knitting and spinning ... and (I'm sure!) work! sigh. surely we'll have news soon.

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