Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Habits and attitudes

The doldrums are a thing of the past (and probably, the future, if we think far enough ahead to next summer). The sky is blue, the humidity is low, the plants and trees are practically singing with happiness over all the rain, and I am a bitch. Sigh. I have noticed these last days that even though I feel pretty good, all I can do is snark and complain. Upon reflection, I believe this is a left-over side effect of the doldrums. When I was wallowing in them (oh how I love a good wallow) I could only feel tired, used up, cranky, creativity-free, crabby, and nasty. I'm pretty darn sure I complained a lot. And the habit of complaining has stuck with me, even though I really don't have much to complain about. Cattiness and sarcasm are indulgences I wrestle with (and I usually lose) on a regular basis, but I seem to have gotten into the habit of kvetching again. Okay, well, I always kvetch, but most of the time when I'm feeling good I can counter it with at least as much positive thinking. I have lost the habit of feeling good, and it's tiresome. (I'm pretty sure the people I deal with regularly grok the tiresome when they listen to me whine.) Do you do this? Are you a person who kvetches out of habit, or are you one of those who perks up when s/he starts to feel good, and is all sunshine and rainbows again?

In the interest of returning to sunshine and rainbows, I shamelessly rip off something I already ripped off from Big Alice once before - the List of Things That Make Me Happy.

-watching the local prairie hawk from my desk
-the way the bushes in the medians are completely drenched with lavender flowers
-the smell of the pine trees on the first warm-but-not-hot day in a while
-finally going out for a walk
-my morning latte
-driving my old '70 Maverick
-soft yarn and lace
-Bugs

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