Simple Pleasures

I went to visit a friend for advice, and he is a really good advisor. It was more career advice but ended up being a series of sessions about life, the universe, and everything. thankfully, we did not come up with the number 42 anywhere in our conversations. He asked me a question on our first session, and I literally COULD NOT answer no matter how hard I tried. The question was, “what do you feel like doing right now?”

When the things that pop in your head when you get asked that are: doing groceries, getting home, and checking up on tomorrow’s work, you probably have a problem. In this context, you is me! The conclusion was that I was depressed, which wasn’t really all that shocking since I knew I was depressed, but I thought I was much better, and I was, just not as well as I had hoped I would be. I had homework to do: hang out with myself, take myself to the cinema in my advisor’s words, consider what’s going on and how to get myself out of that state to be able to move on with my life. I’m not sure if I tried hard enough but every time I tried, I got more and more depressed and at the time I believed that it totally backfired, that I should keep bottling stuff up and just survive. That is not the best option though.

To make a long story short, at some point, I needed to make a career decision in a weekend, one of those now or never life changing decisions that always catch us by surprise. And since I couldn’t make it, I decided to consider what I wanted to do instead; not career wise, everything wise. I sat down on the floor with my trusty laptop and started listing likes and dislikes. I like this, I don’t like that, I love this, I hate that. And even though I did reach that career decision, I reached a result that was much more important, and it was who I really was deep down and how I see myself living a happy life, which, weirdly enough, I think I am (el7amdulellah, Thank God and please no jinxing it, I’ve been sick for more than a week so enough!) so here’s a list of the things that make me happy, or my simple pleasures (tried them and they actually work), when I thought them up, I actually missed myself and felt like I’ve been living as someone else for a very long time. You’re all welcome to borrow items off my list but I highly recommend you make your own:

1- Reading a good book in bed by a small nightlight

2- Writing something from the heart

3- Listening to Bon Jovi and Mohamed Fawzy

4- Going for long walks (not necessarily with anyone)

5- Having breakfast out, preferably waffles

6- Exploring, exploring, and more exploring; going to historical places, seeing new areas

7- Going to concerts, listening to new music, exploring the cultural scenes

8- Learning new stuff

9- Having a very good cup of cappuccino with Irish cream flavor (my favorite’s on the run’s)

10- Enjoying a delicious piece of chocolate

11- Hanging out with my friends

12- Telling jokes and making people laugh

13- Lots and lots of laughing

14- Watching colorful stuff

15- Going shopping (I unfortunately became a shopaholic after going to Dubai, long story, I won’t get into it now)

16- Watching movies

17- Singing in the car

18- Coming up with ideas

19- Listening to other people

20- Meeting new people

21- Playing games

It’s funny how all these things are really very simple and the only thing getting between myself and making myself happy is my chronically depressed alter ego, or maybe it’s just all “life’s responsibilities” getting in the way. The point is, I’m not letting them get in the way anymore.

Dear Reader, Good Luck with your simple pleasures

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