A Good Mood

Hi all on this rainy Wednesday. I just found Esther’s writing prompt for this week, which is “mood”. Since I’m in a pretty good mood right now, it feels appropriate to write about it.

Yesterday, I had a meeting with my support coordinator and the behavior specialist who’s filling in while my home’s regular one is on maternity leave. As regular readers of my blog might know, we’re in the process of designing a new, activity-based day schedule for me. Initially, the draft didn’t appeal to me, because for one thing I’d wanted it to include time for me to have a cup of tea in the living room later in the evening. As those who’ve followed me for a long while will know, I introduced this cup of tea last summer and it helped me through a dark period. Of course, I’ve mentioned more than once that if a cup of tea is the only thing to lift my mood during a day or even week, that’s not really all that good. I mean, yes, it signifies that I’m not majorly depressed, but it isn’t particularly a sign of good quality of life.

My support coordinator yesterday told the behavior specialist about my daily positives and negatives, which I’ve been sending out to her and my assigned staff on a weekly basis. She mentioned that my positives usually include activities that have meaning for me, such as crafting, cooking, baking or the like. My negatives usually involve situations in which the staff don’t adequately support me based on my needs of that moment, such as when they place too much responsibility on me.

Yesterday, I for the first time in a while had a day in which I didn’t see any negatives. When I wrote in the Gratitude app in the evening, I even rated my mood as “good”. Not “great”, but I don’t expect to feel great. I usually rate my daily moods as “okay” at best.

I listed several positives yesterday too. One was my having made another batch of homemade granola. This takes only about half an hour total, but it significantly lifts my mood to make it.

Similarly, on Monday, we had twenty minutes left of my long activity time slot in the afternoon after having gone on a walk and having had coffee at the institution townhouse. My staff initially proposed we play a dice game, but I suggested we try making a simple bracelet. My staff questioned whether we’d have enough time to finish this, but I challenged her by saying we could at least try. Usually, I’m the one suffering from inertia because I fear we cannot finish an activity within my allocated time slot. That’s one reason I proposed doing a more activity-based day schedule, of course including approximate times for the activities. Anyway, guess what? We finished the bracelet on time!

Today, if nothing major happens to diminish my mood, I’ll also have a day with no negatives. This morning, I started off by feeling a bit stuck by fear of there not being time for an activity. Thankfully, I pulled myself through it and guess what? I made not just the one thing out of polymer clay I’d wanted to make, a rolling dice for a staff who’s leaving and with whom I used to play dice all the time. I also started on a project for a staff who’s just become a father. Of course, since the dice had to be painted, I didn’t finish it right then, but I did in the afternoon, just on time for the staff’s goodbye.

My support coordinator is definitely right that meaningful activities are what help me get in a good mood. Isn’t that normal though?