Les Misérables, gratitude, anxiety, and more gratitude*

On Sunday afternoon, I saw Les Misérables the movie. I had seen it performed when I was a child, in a production that came to Perth and was performed in our outdoor quarry amphitheater  My memories of that performance are a little hazy, but the power of the story and music have remained with me since. I went on to read the book as a teenager, which provided me with background (and extra words) to the musical.

There is a lot written on the movie Les Misérables, and I don't intend to try and repeat it here. I will simply say that I loved it. Adored it, even. I was swept up in the story, the music and the emotion from start to finish. I thought the acting was incredible. Les Misérables has joined Love Actually and Black Swan in my favourite movie list.

Irrelevant photo #1. Bottlebrush atop Reabold Hill, Perth.

I also left the cinema determined to remember how fortunate I am. I have not experienced crippling poverty, known what it is to lack basic necessities, slept on the streets, been beaten or imprisoned, had a child I couldn't support, or lost people I love to war or revolution. The movie opened my eyes to what I already know, but am prone to forgetting when life gets busy or difficult or tiring: I am lucky in my life. And even when my life is busy or difficult or tiring, it is still easier than some people's lives.

This renewed vigor and thankfulness lasted, oh, about 4 hours. By Sunday evening I was worrying about work-related matters, and I proceeded to start the new week more anxious than I have been for some time. My efforts to remind myself of my good fortune were swept away by an internal panic button that decided this was the week it wanted to be pressed.

Irrelevant photo #2. Kalamunda National Park, Perth hills. No panic here.

I am a little unimpressed with myself.

In an effort to re-capture some of that post-movie gratitude, I focused today on finding 5 small things for which I was thankful. As it turns out, I found 6 by midday.

Here is my list.

1. A husband who, last night, made me laugh until I cried.
2. A cool breeze on my morning run; being able to run injury-free; and being moderately distracted from my thought processes when running (this is a 3 in 1 special).
3. My morning coffee with unsweetened almond milk. Perfection.
4. My workplace having functional air conditioning after 2 weeks without it.
5. Multiple books on my bedside table, patiently waiting until I choose to sink into them (incorporating birthday and Christmas titles as well as Lonely Planet library loans).
6. Daydreaming of a camper van and expansive distances in the Northern Territory and Queensland.

Irrelevant photo #3. Ladder to nowhere.

For similar thoughts on daily happiness, see Lisa's blog Blithe Moments.

Do you find yourself slipping back to complacency after trying to be mindful of good fortune or similar? Please tell me it isn't just me...

* Alternative post titles included "Why Les Misérables changed my life for four hours", "Why I need to watch Les Misérables daily".

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A varied week and Thank Goodness for Friday

This week I have, quite frankly, been all over the place.

On Monday, my mood decided to head south. Quite a long way south in fact. My morning exercise did nothing to help. A purchased coffee barely made a dent.

Even tuna sushi for lunch didn't help.

I struggled to focus on work and also had a headache, which had started on Sunday. It was not a great day.

Sometimes you just have to accept that things are like that.

Fortunately, my mood took a 180' turn after I got home at 6.30pm and I felt fine, even excitable, for the rest of the evening.

On Tuesday, the trajectory was exactly the opposite. I felt wonderful after my morning bike ride / gym combination and had a great time reuniting with hot porridge, after 6+ months of (cold) oats and yoghurt.

 Plain...topped with berries...and mixed in

I also discovered that I loved my new top, the one that I wasn't entirely convinced about at the shop (dark change room lighting = hard to judge anything properly), but bought anyway because I liked it enough and it was on sale.

 I especially liked the different fabrics across the sleeves.

And that I could wear it with one of my favourite scarves, which also has different fabrics.

A physiotherapy visit helped with my still lingering headache, and my new health insurance provider gave me a higher physiotherapy rebate than my old one. Definitely good!

But then things went downhill. My headache returned with a vengeance, I felt generally blah and by the end of the day I was sick of myself and of the day.

On Wednesday, things were average. My headache continued (?!). I did manage to be vaguely productive at work. We also played tennis after work, which was lots of fun (although I played terribly). Nonetheless, I didn't feel 100% and went to bed at 8.45pm. I fell asleep at 9.30pm.

On Thursday, I went back to the physio, for what was turning into my record longest headache. I am headache prone (due to being neck / back problems prone), but it's been a long time since I've had this level and persistence of pain. Fortunately, this visit seemed to do the trick. I made it through the day without Ibuprofen and felt better than I had all week.

Friday, to my immense relief, I woke up headache free. I felt good. It was almost the weekend. The weather was beautiful (11 - 26'C and sunny).

And now I'm rather grateful that the week is over (in a working sense at least).

And that even with a below-average week, I have porridge, clothing-scarf combinations, and outdoor activities to keep me happy at least some of the time. As well as liquorice tea, which is a recent discovery and has jumped to become my new current favourite flavour :)

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