PICK ME UP
Prompt - Pick Me Up : What do you do when you need a pick me up?
Times change, people change, and the reasons why you might need to find yourself a pick me up, and what you would regard as one, changes across the decades. At the risk of sounding smug, and ignoring the potential for hubris, I am now at a point in my life where a pick me up rarely required. Life is good, I am mostly content, and the need to raise my own spirits is a rarity. It was not always that way.
In large part that's because the very things I would turn to for their ability to give my mood a lift are already part of my daily routine. And because I no longer have the stress of a job, of being obliged towards others, of feeling that I am on a wheel I can't easily get off. Retirement takes those elements of life away, and gives time to do the things that bring pleasure. I am conscious that I also lucky to have no family commitments, no debts, an adequate income, and that my health is largely good. Take away any of those and the picture could be very different. (And no doubt will be, one day...)
So what are the regular events in day to day life that mitigate against feeling down? The ones I can turn to in those times when I do have concerns to deal with. Number one is my wife, supported by our cat and home. A happy home life, someone to talk to and share things with, an affectionate creature that depends on me/us, and a place to be with comfort, character and, in Spring, crows to watch! These are all elements which support the good life, and can provide solace at times of worry or anger. I have with me someone who will listen and provide sensible advice; a pet to play with and stroke to help me forget; and a flat that feels like the happiest place I have ever lived, with a fascinating view out and all the comfort I feel I need. There's space enough, music on tap, books by the hundred to turn to - but more on them later.
Then there's exercise, and specifically walking. I n o longer play any sports, my left knee prevents me running, but every day I do some stretches and a few basic exercises. Now and then I manage to motivate myself into a short gym session. But the one exercise that will lift my mood more than any other is walking. I walk every day, health permitting, aiming to record at least eleven thousand steps on my wrist monitor. That comes from a mix of simply doing stuff around the flat, occasionally pacing up and down whilst lost in thought, making my way across the city streets to get shopping or visit somewhere, and, in the warmer months, much longer walks, of ten miles and more, to get my body in shape for the charity Kiltwalk. I put in a lot of steps across a year, and they make my body and mind feel better. I have always found I think better on the move, and now I have the time to move and keep moving every day I can
Finally there's the activity I am undertaking now, which is closely linked to taking in the results of others doing the same. The power of words to explain, sooth, distract, inform. Letting them pour out, letting them seep in. I write every day. A diary entry, about the trivia of my life. An entry in the website 750words, which can be about anything. Often nothing more than a stream of consciousness outpouring, sometimes I find a subject. Some of those lead into posts on the blog I've been putting out, irregularly, for nine years. Sometimes I write reviews of plays, gigs and films we've been to see. Not for anyone to read, but to see what the challenge produces. And this year I have been trying to meet a challenge to produce something every single day in response to a list of prompts I found on the web. It hasn't always worked, but it has most days, and I suspect I've produced more short stories and poems in the past twelve months than in the rest of my life put together. Most are poor efforts. But at least I feel I've tried. And, now and then, I've come up with something I'm proud of. And that if that isn't a pick me up I don't know what is.
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