little joys and little sorrows #15
reflecting on july: the joys of a summer birthday, my tamagotchi may have already died, inner child consumerism, texting with a number keypad again, old animal crossing games
hello quiet readers. it is the peak of summer and i have seen more sunshine than i think i ever have before. it’s been cloudy for a couple of weeks now, but i think the effects of the sun tend to linger like perfume in a room long after the body leaves, so even when the skies look a little tired, my reserves remain full of joy. when i look at the calendar and see the months of june, july and august, something within me settles. is it just me? perhaps it’s from those many years of summer holidays and experiencing true rest as a child without fully knowing it. my body knows when it feels the heat that this is a time when joy comes first, when making memories is at the top of the list, when time slows and light stretches to reach most hours of the day, giving us permission to stay up a little later, laugh a little harder, live a little louder.
so as july comes to a close, let’s reflect on the past month, on all the moments that stood out, good and bad, to get a good picture of what our lives look like, see where to smile fondly and where to take notice of the little lessons life teaches us.
okay, let’s get into the lists.
little joys
my birthday must come at the top of this list. this was a true lesson in if you want something, go and get it. i think i always have an expectation that my birthday will suddenly become special out of thin air, and that used to be true as a child, but now as adults, we have to find our own happiness. so i spent it with two of my closest friends. we had a picnic, we cried laughing at nintendo switch mario games, we spoke in hushed tones over empty crisps bowls, tea cups, listened to old cds that were sprawled all over the living room. we hugged, we said we loved each other and i had one of the best birthdays i’ve had in a very long time. (love you forever d+s <3)
the sun.
artist dates and filling up my calendar when it feels right for me
taking myself out on a stationery crawl in london, picking up the cutest stickers and stationery bits
appreciating the joy of going at my own pace
c making all my childhood dreams come true and getting me a nintendo ds lite (in pink ofc) for my birthday
and the absolute pleasure it was to make it even more mine and fill it with stickers (i’ll share a photo in our chat)
exploring the line between inner child consumerism and genuinely healing my inner child and ensuring my purchases serve a real purpose and finding joy in that
finally finding the perfect anklet that i will never take off thanks to my wonderfully thoughtful friend
grateful for the beautiful weather on my birthday too when it had been raining for several days straight
shopping for old tech second-hand has become a mini hobby — i recently bought a nintendo 2ds xl after looking for ages and i’m so excited to play animal crossing wild world and new leaf after hearing how they’re so much better than new horizons
this new nostalgia kick i’m on is fun and i don’t care if my friends hate my new phone lol
finding out that it’s always a good idea to incorporate more colour into things
little sorrows
rip to my tamagotchi (already, i know)
i hope the wasps that semi-ruined my birthday picnic are having a terrible day
finding the line between enjoying lots of hobbies and simply owning too much stuff
learning that i have become incredibly lazy with spelling from using the number keypad on my new phone
i’ve already fallen behind on my daily journal, but i’m also trying not to feel too bad about it
noticing how fast-paced messaging has become? i’m struggling to keep up with my friends when i use my number keypad to text and find myself switching to the touchscreen keyboard instead. it reminds me of when texts used to appear one at a time on a separate screen! i don’t think those old phones could handle the amount of messages we send to each other nowadays. are our brains doing alright too?
thank you for reading today’s post. as always, please feel free to leave your own little joys and little sorrows in the comments as a form of mini reflection to send off july.
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"i hope the wasps that semi-ruined my birthday picnic are having a terrible day"
I hope so too, they're jerks.