This letter was an interesting one to write because it forced me to think back and analyze bad days I’ve had and how I handled them.
What comforts me when I have a bad day?
Cue:
Olivia’s Recipe to Make a Bad Day a Little Less Bad!
Ingredients:
- A soft blanket (mine has anime characters on it, but that part is optional)
- A quiet room, preferably one with access to a window that provides natural light
- A device that can play videos
- A playlist made up of favorite and/or comfort videos to watch on said device
- A cozy bed
Directions:
- Find a nice, quiet room to hide away in. Shut the door completely, making sure the lights are off. For best results, allow natural light to come in through the nearest window. (Though, not gonna lie, sometimes I prefer to have the curtains closed to make the room as dark as possible. Depends on the day.)
- Set up a device nearby and queue up the playlist of favorite/comfort videos. If the playlist is fairly short, be sure to put it on “loop” so you won’t have to expend any energy worrying about constantly needing to pick a new video. The point here is to rest and not think about anything else.
- Make sure the device’s volume is set to a low level. If you happen to fall asleep, you don’t want any sudden loud sounds startling you awake.
- While the videos begin playing, take a soft, cozy blanket and wrap it tightly around yourself, like a hug. Or a burrito.
- Snuggle your little burrito-self into bed, getting as comfortable as possible. Comfort is key here.
- Resting time varies. Sometimes it requires thirty minutes, sometimes an hour, sometimes multiple hours on particularly rough days. If you end up dozing off and getting a little nap in while your comfort vids play in the background, all the better!
Chef’s Note: This recipe may not suit all tastes. Feel free to take it and use it as a baseline to experiment and create your own.
And that’s it. That’s all I need.
On all of my bad days, this routine is what I turn to for comfort, regardless of where on the “bad” spectrum my day falls.
Simple things. Simple, ordinary things are what comfort me when I have a bad day.
So I filled this letter with them.
Favorite Panel: Blanket Cape Yu. Originally, I was going to have the blanket draped over him the same way someone would drape a sheet over themselves to be a “ghost,” but then I had the idea to give him a blanket cape instead, and I think it turned out cute.
This week’s letter can be found here
Olivia Forero 