I listened to an episode of the podcast ‘After Work Drinks’, in which they spoke about dealing with heartbreak, how life changes so much when a relationship comes to an end and how you can cope. In ways, this social distancing can feel like the end of a relationship and you can experience the symptoms of heartbreak. You are torn away from everything you once had, your routine is interrupted, you can’t spend time with the people you love and it can be hard to cope. It can also make existing heartbreak feel EVEN worse. One thing that I took away from the episode was. to find small ways to make yourself happy on a daily basis and look forward to them. The girls advised their listeners to make a list of things that make them happy. I did this when I went through my break up and it really helped me feel positive and happy each day, especially when I felt at my worst. I have added to my list and look at it everyday and try to bring the things into my life while in self isolation. My list continues to grow as I find the lovely things in the ordinary. Here’s my list, you should all make one too.

Warning, this list contains silly trivial things, but they make me happy!

1. Quiz night with my friends
2. My slippers
3. Fresh bed sheets
4. My Himalayan salt lamp
5. A glass of red wine and a few squares of chocolate
6. An open fire
7. Yoga (Yoga with Adrienne on Youtube or Yoga with Maura on Instagram are great)
8. My dog, especially when he finishes my tea and sits on my lap
9. Writing
10. Online shopping
11. Reading my horoscope and sharing it with my friends
12. Reading my friends horoscopes
13. Watching ‘Clueless’
14. Tea and chocolate digestives
15. Dancing
16. Hugs from my mum
17. A face mask and rolling my quartz roller over my face
18. Cleansing, toning and moisturising before bed
19. Tanning with nowhere to go
20. Brunch with my mum on Sundays, usually banana pancakes
21. Laughing
22. Porridge at my desk before I start work
23. Flicking through magazines
24. Receiving cards
25. Planning outfits
26. My favourite perfume
27. Binge watching ‘Sex and the City’
28. Wearing hoop earrings
29. Listening to playlists my friends make for me
30. Listening to the radio and Podcasts (‘After Work Drinks’, Fearne Cotton’s, Elizabeth Day’s and ‘ItGalz’ are my fave)
31. Cooking new recipes
32. Baking
33. Nice poems
34. Clean pyjamas
35. Walks along the river
36. Dancing around my kitchen while I wait for the kettle to boil
37. Taking my vitamins
38. Looking through old photographs
39. Reading a book (Marian Keyes is my fave author at the moment)
40. My after work quiz on a Thursday
41. Donating to charity
42. The first sip of black coffee in the morning
43. Lit candles
44. A vase full of flowers
45. Skitting with my friends over memes, boys, tiktoks, anything really
46. Blaring my ‘GRL PWR’ playlist while cleaning my room
47. Curling or straightening my hair
48. Talking to my little brothers on the phone
49. My Sunday morning lie in
50. Looking at the moon