Starting slow with pleasing things

Last week I picked back up on my ‘things that are pleasing me’ post, and I had all these good intentions of writing all week. Then life got in the way and it didn’t happen.

That seems to be happening a lot. It’s busy at the moment; work is keeping my brain full for more hours than it should, and when it comes to weekends, or the late night hours, I’m finding that I need to switch off from social and just rest.

I never thought I’d be someone who looked for refuge away from the online world; usually it lifts me up.

I’m not sure if it’s the seemingly never ending election race in the US dominating the news cycles, stories of more autistic kids being abused by their peers, but whatever it is, I’m not missing it when my phone is down.

That doesn’t mean the words stop filling my head. Posts are always swirling around in there and taking up space for things that are meaningful and important, so I probably need to prioritise to getting them out.

But we’ll start slow. Maybe with a few things that are pleasing me this week…

• Cycling continues to give me much happiness. Watching Poss in her first race on the weekend; her determination and focus made me almost burst with pride.
• Hanging with my family pleases me greatly. Especially in small doses. My sister came down for a flying visit for my mum’s birthday and we ate fabulous food and laughed a lot. A pleasing combination.
• Chilli scrambled eggs at our local cafe are especially pleasing. I’m not sure how to re-create such a dish, but there is bacon, eggs, chilli, vietnamese mint and some sort of crunchy shallot thing. It’s delicious and walking distance from my house. Pleasing indeed.
• While watching the presidential election campaign is far from pleasing, some of the memes and videos coming out of the most recent debate are a silver lining. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, start here.
• It’s World Mental Health week and my work has put together a bunch of resources to help those living with anxiety. It pleases me that I’m able to help people with my words through work every now and then. Find my contributions here and here.

What’s pleasing you this week? Are you absolutely sick of the American election campaign too? And kind of terrified of what might happen if Trump wins?