Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful this month:

Libraries opening again for Select and Collect

Having a Coffee Frostino from Costa

Having a McDonald's breakfast!

Going to Hove Park again

Summer days

Listening to new music

Watching cute animal videos on YouTube!

Watching dance videos

Feeling Low

With all that's been going in these past few months (the coronavirus and lockdown/quarantine, and then the murder of George Floyd and all the racial tension and unrest), I've been feeling quite low lately. I'd imagine that many people are feeling the same, so I thought I'd write a post about feeling low and how we can start to pick ourselves back up.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)

I have written before about having depression and anxiety, and last autumn I went through a period where I was struggling. I did start to feel a bit better but then the end of the year was quite hard for me personally, and then of course in early 2020 the coronavirus spread and lockdown happened. I wasn't able to get to places and do things that I usually did, since everything shut down and we were all told to stay home. And then with recent events I've been feeling more unsettled. I wrote about my thoughts on the year so far in my Mid-2020 Reflections post. You can read that here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/mid-2020-reflections.html

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Hot weather

Litha/the Summer Solstice and the official start of summer

Lockdown easing more

McDonald's reopening (for drive-thru, delivery and takeaway)! lol.

Getting an iced latte from Tom Foolery

Going to the park more

Discovering new blogs

Re-reading favourite books- since libraries are still closed.

Mid-2020 Reflections

For the past few years I've written mid- year reflection posts. Well, the first one was in May and then in 2018 and 2019 I wrote them in June. You can read them below:

Reflections (2017): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/05/reflections.html

Mid-2018 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2018/06/mid-2018-reflections.html

Mid-2019 Reflections: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/06/mid-2019-reflections.html

For the past couple of years I've written end of year posts as well. You can read my Letting Go of 2019 + Starting a New Decade post here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/12/letting-go-of-2019-starting-new-decade.html

The first half of 2020 has been strange to say the least! I think at the beginning of the year few of us imagined that we'd have a worldwide pandemic with the coronavirus and almost every country would go into lockdown/quarantine because of it. So it's been quite hard adapting to that.

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Beltane

Sunny, hot weather

Hawthorn trees blossoming

Making new online friendships and connections

Lockdown easing slightly- I know we still have to be careful but it's nice to be allowed out a bit more.

Going to the park again

Getting hold of some light condensed milk in the shops (I made my own recently but it's easier to buy it)!

YouTube- been spending a lot of time there lately, lol.

I occasionally share pictures in my gratitude posts, so this month I thought I'd share a sunset pic I took at the park:

Feeling Lonely

If you follow the blog then you'll know that I've been doing a series called Feeling Your Emotions. You can read the intro post here (and find all the posts under the label "FYE"): https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/11/feeling-your-emotions-introduction.html

One emotion I haven't covered is loneliness. Since  I'm "moving up" through the scale of the so-called more positive emotions, I decided to do a stand alone post on loneliness. Hopefully it will be useful, especially during this time when we are advised to self- isolate and social distance due to the coronavirus. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)


What is loneliness and what does it mean to feel lonely?

Loneliness is described as an "unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation and also "social pain" (Wikipedia) ,and a "distressing experience that occurs when a person's relationships are perceived by themselves to be less in quantity or quality" (Encyclopaedia Britannica). So it's a strong feeling that is thought of as negative. I would also describe it as an "empty" feeling.

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

The NHS, supermarket and other essential workers who have been working during lockown
First full month of spring
Easter
Chocolate Easter eggs (especially Bournville!)
Blossom trees
Wimpy still being open
Doing some baking and making Dalgona coffee
Some products being back in the supermarkets (it's still hard to get flour and eggs though!)

Bonus: Amina Makhdoom's 30 Day Joy Challenge


Hope everyone is staying safe and doing ok. :)