Making Your Own Sunshine

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happy, sunshine, music

Last week we had several days of overcast weather. My kids started getting frustrated and by day three my youngest said very dramatically, “When will we ever see the sun again?!” I looked at her, tried not to chuckle and I told her the truth- Sometimes we have to make our own sunshine. My small chat with a five year old turned out to be exactly what I needed that day too.

Here are some of our ideas for making our own sunshine for kids and adults alike:

Send Happy Mail

Happy mail at our house can be done a few ways. This latest iteration involves sending notes, drawings, stickers and school pictures to family and friends. It’s not fancy and sometimes the pages get smashed as we cram them in the envelope, but I have it on good authority, (Grandma’s) that nobody minds.

I also try to send out fun packages to friends to give them an extra boost every now and then. As adults we get so much junk mail or bills that it’s such a treat to get something as a surprise.

Blast The Music

Nothing gets me feeling sunshine faster than music. I put on some 80s music LOUD and start dancing around my kitchen and sunshine comes out, metaphorically. My kids start laughing at my crazy dance moves and soon they’re dancing with me. I grab something silly as a microphone and begin my karaoke. Spotify has great themed playlists and my particular favorite is one called Mood Booster. My kids love most of the music and I get a break from Encanto that’s on repeat.

Comfort Food

Comfort food is the best. These days my comfort food is Butter Chicken or a Massaman Curry with garlic naan. To me the flavor of coconut tastes like sunshine.  For quicker comfort food, I’m slightly embarrassed but I’m going to admit that I like almost all Mac and Cheese. With Doritos.

My kids also like having comfort foods and fun snacks at home. I’m not too much of a snack mom, but I like to keep a few things hidden in the back of the pantry to perk us up.

Reach Out

This one is hard when you wish people would reach out to you, but I’m also a fan of communicating your needs. For me when I have a little extra oomph but still need some sunshine, I FaceTime my family, who of course lives nowhere near me, or text a friend. I find that more connection with people I care about does more to help me feel sunnier than doomscrolling Twitter. No big surprise, but sometimes I have to remind myself.

Everyday isn’t sunshine at my house, even the sunny days sometimes. But adding these things in usually helps and brings a smile to me and sometimes someone else.