Open-hearted joys 開開心心 71
Happy The Tortured Poets Department day to all that celebrate!
(It’s me, I’m celebrating. In fact, I plan to be completely insufferable today.)
Lately, I’ve had more and more people messaging me to tell me that they’ve started to incorporate gratitude journalling and actively seeking the small joys. It means so much to me to hear from any person that has read Daisybutter once, 10 times, 100 times. I know that this small practice has changed my outlook and life immeasurably since I started working on it back in 2016. My little life is so ordinary, yet there are glimmers of the extraordinary at every turn.
There’s a lot to be said for appreciating the smaller, not necessarily finer, details of the everyday mundane. Here’s to another list of petite, open-hearted joys, the moments that’ve brought and woven poetry to my days, this fortnight:
一. Getting my first 20-minute run in! I’m still powering through the Couch to 5k programme and tackled that Week 5 Run 3 on a sunny Sunday. I hadn’t run 20 minutes on the trot in years, so it felt good to actually achieve a longer run. As you read this, I’ve actually gotten to Week 7 Run 2 and this feels genuinely unreal.
二. Finishing A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab. I absolutely love that fictional universe and, if you’re into dark magic fantasy, you will too. Equally, finishing The Household, Stacey Halls’ newest novel, which is a glorious historical fiction.
三. Girls’ dinner at Plants by Deliciously Ella. Went back with a different group of friends and had an expectedly delicious meal. It was fun to hang out with my work girlies and carry on our usual fun-but-unhinged office conversations! Plus, London in the sunshine? There’s nothing like it.
四. Snacking on the lemon drizzle fudge that my friend made me.
五. Sunrises, through my boyfriend’s eyes because, once again, I’m not up early enough to see them first-hand now the clocks have gone forward.
六. Light spring evenings spent making The Eras Tour friendship bracelets! Let’s trade bracelets if you’re at Wembley on night one!
七. A no-coat weekend at last!
八. Launching our new branding at & Chai. We’ve upgraded all of our packaging at last (we’d been waiting to completely use up our existing materials) and we love the new-look labels and boxes. Plus, there’s two new scents to discover.
九. The GRUBBY meal kits I’ve been eating all fortnight. I knew I had a busy two weeks, so I treated myself to their plant-based recipe boxes. I’ve actually used them a few times before and their meals are so delicious. Get 65% off your first order and 20% off the rest of your first month when you use my referral code at checkout: GRUBBY-MCL7DGRL. (Not an affiliate link, just a referral feature for any paying customer!)
十. Staging an ACNH revival on my (equally revived) Discord server. I’ve played Animal Crossing: New Horizons pretty consistently since launch and it’s been good getting people to come back and play with me! Join our server for more cosy chats.
