10 for me. And it’s definitely gotten better since the start of COVID.
I think that period was tough, but thankfully I had built up a lot of structure mentally through therapy that allowed me to mitigate what was 1-2 years or so of my life where everything that could go wrong did go wrong (mostly under the weight of the pandemic).
Since things have stabilized (work and finances are comfortable, all my relationships are healthy, I feel good physically) I’ve been really happy.
Sure, there are stressors, both daily and more long term ones, but I suppose I’m lucky that mindset has such a big influence in my happiness. I really believe that things will work out, even when they’re hard or scary, and every day I make a conscious decision to choose happiness and choose to enjoy everything I can about the people and things in my life. I don’t spend any serious time dwelling on the bad things or wishing things were different if I’m not willing to act on it and make that change.
It hasn’t always been easy, there was a period as a teenager where suicide was front of mind almost every day, but I just put in the work and that’s what works for me. I’m as lucky as they come, I think. I love my life.
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