Joyful Saviors

Oh, the world outside is frightful.....

2021, fam. It wasn't the best of years. The political landscape was insane. People are radicalized and just stupid. People are ignoring logic and reason and common sense. Hell, the crowd that always claims to have common sense is ignoring it. 

......but these things are so delightful!

However, I have managed to make it through the year mostly sane...ish....kinda. And here are some of the reasons why. 

My closest friends. The people I talk to on the daily are people I've known for years. We have conversations that have lasted for years. No matter how bad things get, we'll find ways to either process the situations or distract each other. People, you need friends like this in your life.

JRRT's works. My mom read Tolkien to me when I was very young and it's always been a part of my life, but this year I dove headfirst into the fandom and allowed myself to become outright Tolkientrash. This fandom is my favorite thing at the moment and I love it so much. No matter how bad things got, I could sit here and think about Sauron seducing kings to their ruin and feel better.

An Archive of Our Own. On a related note, I also dove headfirst into Tolkien fanfic. Some of the works on AO3 are amazing. I've read many book-length works that made me weep. I've read short pieces that delighted me. I've considered characters and situations from so many different perspectives. Ahh, it's been so much fun.

YouTube. Actually, YouTube keeps me sane every year, but this year especially. This is where I find music to meditate, it's where I've discovered new stuff that speaks to me, and it's my usual source for education. You can learn anything on YouTube.

Focus. So I've tried to change some stuff in my life this year. Okay, admittedly, I try to do this every year, but I've had some success this time. I'm getting better at mindfulness. It's not a lot. It's mostly some focused breathing and perhaps stretching for 15 minutes or working on leg rehab or just letting my mind empty for a bit. It's never a lot, but it's something. It's more than I was doing and it's helping me. 

Anyway, I've gotten past the point of hoping the world gets better. I'm not sure that's even possible anymore. Despite that, we can still find joy in things. As I've written time and time again, I truly believe that if people put effort into working on their happiness, everything would get better. 

For 2022, I hope that all of us find more joy.