I want to start doing a segment on this blog called “Happy Place”. I feel as if I have truly realized the importance of mental comfort zones throughout this past semester at U of M. There were many times in which I felt hopeless, lonely, angry and quite scared. Usually, these emotions were the bi-product of situations I put myself in. Procrastination and laziness lead to missed deadline, which led to lower grades, which would lead into a fear of opening emails which lead to an acute fear of all things academic. After begging for extensions and rushing to make up lost work, I’d often stay up all night making lists. Lists of what I needed to finish, what I could no longer finish, and what I still had left. I neglected to take care of myself because I wanted to finish my work first. But with no work being finished, I was slipping further and further into an abyss of procrastination and fear.
I began searching for different methods of reducing stress and after searching Google for anything that could help. I realized something. Whenever my brain is introduced to a something remotely difficult, it is much easier to ignore the task and continue participating in something much more appealing. But if I took the same concept and used it against itself, I could actually get work done. That is to say: I could use images, songs and other media to trick my brain into becoming so relaxed that I could actually get work done. Whatever I used was considered my “happy place”. So, if staring at a picture of a peaceful woodland could calm me down, I’d use it to lower my stress enough to become productive – instead of using it to avoid all productivity. I’d like to share my happy places because they might just be exactly what someone else needs to get by.
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My first happy place is this .gif of the character Will Gorski from Sense8. He is visiting his friend in the hospital. If I had to describe the feeling this image gives me it would be: warm.
This is my happy place because I cannot remember the last time someone has held my hand in that manner. I don’t mean that in a hey-have-pity-on-me way. I just like observing such kind interaction between people. Hospital rooms are very quiet and at times it feels like death is looming above every patient’s bed. But this .gif is different. The tenderness displayed in Will’s eyes is very therapeutic. It puts my nerves at ease, knowing that there are people like this character who worry about others. For that, this is my happy place for the day.
FEROCIOUSLY x NICE 