Hello all,
Happy Thursday.
I just finished doing day 5 of my “handling sadness” course on headspace. I’ve had headspace for years now, but always seem to forget how effective meditating is at making all my emotions a bit easier to handle. That is one of the lessons I’ve been learning lately. And thus, the inspiration for this post.
This post is a practice of another lesson I am trying to integrate: forcing myself to stay away from trying to have “all the answers” or only share when I’m sure of something because:
It gives off a false sense of competency.
It hurts me by limiting my growth to what is finished.
No one has all the answers. That is literally the point of this newsletter. We’re all a little lost, but we’re all also trying our best. So anyway, without further ado, here are some little lesson I’ve been learning— that are in no way complete– but still I’ve been grateful for them, nonetheless.
Friendships ebb and flow and thats okay. It’s not personal, it’s just life.
Try not to your morning drink coffee and your morning ritalin on an empty stomach.
Sleep really affects my moods, especially my anxiety.
Going to the movies alone feels like a secret you get to keep for yourself.
When I start texting a lot it’s usually because I need validation or am avoiding my sadness.
If I talk to myself in Spanish and use the nickname my family used for me — “ashlita’— its much easier to be self-compassionate.
I love RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Journaling makes me feel better.
Reading makes me feel better.
When I’m feeling like I want to spend money, it’s just as effective to get high, put a bunch of stuff in an online shopping cart, and then not buy it, as it is to buy it.
I like doing voices and accents when I’m by myself, especially Scottish and Irish.
I love genre shows/movies (recently: Outlander, Wednesday, The Matrix.)
Listening to musicals make me happy (recently: Annie, Chicago)
I have a deep need for external validation, and working on internally validating myself is truly so difficult, but gets easier each time I practice.
Candles are an easy way to feel fancy.
I love beverages more than life itself. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and came back with q-tips and 6 different kinds of beverages.
I am enough.
How gay/ artsy a movie is can be directly correlated to how loudly the audience cheers for the AMC “heartbreak feels good in a place like this” commercial.
Listening to music while high is an activity in and of itself.
Having pictures of my family around makes me feel less alone.
Doing one task to completion feels better than doing 50 partially.
ex. My house has a lot of levels. Whenever I find something that needs to be moved up or downstairs, I am always temped to just take it down one or two flights. But I always ALWAYS feel better if I just take it all the way down to the garage or all the way up to the dishwasher.
And that’s that friends.
What are little lessons you’ve been learning? They can be silly or ginormous. Please comment below. I really love reading what’s going on in your worlds.
A big thank you to those of you who are supporting this newsletter financially through your subscriptions! I started as a means of helping support my income, since I’m currently a writer on strike and those bills keep a billing <3
And for those of you aren’t the position to support financially, I am still so grateful for your eyes and your comments. Thank you thank you.
What are your little lessons?
Creativity for fun is as, if not more, important as creativity for passion/my clients. I started out in photography because it filled my soul and if I make it all about my clients without any projects for self-fulfillment or play I get burnt out really easily and end up resenting something that’s a safe space for me