If the sun won’t shine, I will simply make it.

The sun is playing hide and seek these days. A little lethargic and a little unwilling to fight through the clouds. A little like me.

September is proving to be a difficult month. I have no motivation and my creative juices are simply not flowing despite hours spent thinking on my desk (and in bed, while waiting for sleep to come). Even getting through this post is harder than usual. The ‘Backspace’ key is on cloud nine.

Two weeks ago, I was nominated for the #GSlist tag by Enette, the rules being to create a list of 10 things that make you happy. Maybe this nomination was timely and I was too blind to realise how helpful it might be.

So here it is. If the sun won’t shine, I will simply make it.

10 things that make me happy:

1. The thought of going home in 10 days. The airport doors sliding open and my mum, beaming amongst the crowd. That hug, the first one after several months of virtual love. The blast of summer heat when we step outside, or the crisp winter air – depending on the season I am visiting. The drive home and the Balkans, standing tall in the background, overlooking Sofia like a mindful parent. And then our house. The blossoming tulips or the snow-covered path. And my grandparents, smiling from the porch, arms wide open.
2. Waking up in the early morning… drawing the curtains and squinting at the sun beating down on my face, shamelessly. Making a coffee, breathing in the delicate aroma of Columbian coffee beans and watching as the steam unfurls from the cup. Sitting on the sofa, already warmed by the sun and taking in my morning-in-a-cup with a smile.
3. When my shuffle knows exactly the way I feel.
4. That precious moment when you come up with a fantastic idea… for your writing project, so fantastic in fact that you must stop whatever it is you’re doing in order to write it down and watch it unfold on paper.
5. Stumbling upon a street piano and feeling the urge to sit and let my fingers go crazy.
6. The idea of a quiet evening at home with my partner. A funny movie we may or may not have seen before and a bottle of rosé in the fridge. A set of brushes and a glass jar waiting to be painted. It has been a while since I last painted on glass.
   
   
7. A sense of clarity. This one is hard to explain but the need for it is very urgent these days. You must know the feeling – it is neither an epiphany nor a stroke of genius that may lose its novelty but rather a lasting feeling, as comforting as a hot chocolate and as clear as mountain air.
8. The idea of snow. Yes, I am a child at heart. A hopeless romantic who still remembers Hyde Park in the snow and is crossing fingers and toes to see it again one day.
9. Flying over the Alps. Almost worth paying for a window seat (but no, I am not that stubborn.)
   
10. Memories of my childhood in Morocco. I know it’s dangerous to bask in the past but it would be a lie not to acknowledge how much I miss it. Maybe I miss it all, or maybe I just miss the idea of it. I guess I am ending my list with a bittersweet number 10. How very me.And a bonus one: flipping through photo albums.

I’m now supposed to nominate another 5 blogs but please, don’t make me. All I can say is how fruitful this has been and how much lighter it can make you feel, whether you feel blue or not. So should you decide to do it, let me know how it went.

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