The Simple Pleasures That Make Life Sweet And Why You Should Stop and Appreciate Them
They can distract you from the big issues beyond your control that cause you to lose sleep.
--
I have been preoccupied recently because I’m dealing with an unexpected health issue. The prospect of having major surgery is freaking me out, to put it lightly. I also have to figure out how to take six weeks off from work and arrange for my kids to be driven to and from school. We live in a semi-rural area so it’s a 30–40 minute round-trip drive with no bus service.
I also have spent far too many hours online reading about other patients’ experiences with this surgery, potential complications, alternatives to surgery, etc. One can only absorb so much information.
I knew I needed something else to distract me. It hit me the other morning, as I was opening the shades in our bedroom. I remarked to my husband, “I am so glad we replaced those finicky old blinds with these shades. It makes it so easy to let the sunlight in every day!”
The old blinds didn’t consistently work. Sometimes only one side would move, so I’d have to pull on the cord just right to get the whole thing to move evenly. It would usually take a few tries, which meant I wasn’t opening them every day. It was easier to leave them closed.
Now I can open or close my new shades in seconds on the first try and I do it every single day. We opted for honeycomb shades without a cord, so there’s only a bottom base that I can push up or pull down with one hand. I love them!
It made me stop and think of other simple pleasures that bring me joy and in turn, help distract me from things I can’t control (like having major surgery). They bring me brief moments of peace and joy.
A perfectly ripe avocado
Avocados are a guilt-free treat for me. They are tasty and indulgent but don’t have the same troublesome issues as chocolate, bacon, or cheese. I love eating avocados but if I don’t time it right, they’re too firm or they’re…
