By Hal Brown, MSW (Bio)
This is a companion article on coping with stress. It is a personal follow-up to my Jan. 29 story The Democrats won. Why do I still feel like crap?
As we all struggle with pandemic fatigue and the limits imposed on our usual activities, and we are worn down and worn out by political news, there are a few things we can do to boost our mood.
Sometimes it can be doing something symbolic which is particularly meaningful to us.
Meatloaf
Ideally this doesn't cost any or much money. My late wife had numerous favorite meatloaf recipes so, since I donated all her cookbooks to the library where she worked, I went online and found some recipes. She used to alternate between an old favorite recipe and a new one. I’ve made five different meatloafs (click to enlarge image). I’ve even darlingly substituted ingredients when I didn’t have something in the recipe.
When I make a meatloaf I have fond memories of my wife in our kitchen blending the ingredients. I remember sitting in the living room with her as the distinct aroma of baking meatloaf fills the air.
Now I almost feel she’s watching me with pleasure and amusement as she sees how proud of myself I am with each new meatloaf I make.
Kneading ground beef probably isn’t as satisfying as kneading dough, and is a bit more icky, there is some tactile satisfaction of blending all the ingredients together. It is definitely not an activity for vegetarians and I manage to put the source of the main ingredient out of my mind while I do this.
Slippers
I’ve had my slippers for as long as I can remember. It’s probably been about 20 years. Even though I’ve washed them when I put them on they felt sticky inside. Not unsurprisingly the so-called memory foam inside was about as springy as a granite slab.
I rarely wore them inside. Before I moved here I wore them when I walked our 50 yard long driveway to the mailbox. Since moving my walk to the mailbox is 50 feet away and unless it is a typical rainy Portland day I wear them to get my mail. I also wear them then I pick up the poop on my patio, aka Mac and Duff’s bathroom. (And yes, that is a little puddle of pee in the photo, click to enlarge)
I never considered that it would be a simple matter to buy a new pair online. I went to Amazon and looked up men’s slippers but most of the ones were furry fleece lined and meant to keep your toasty warm. I don’t have a problem with cold feet. In fact my feet often feel too hot which may or may not be Grierson-Gopalan syndrome.
I really just wanted another pair similar to what I already had. I didn't even see the brand on the first few pages so I looked up the brand of my slippers actually found the exact pair I had.
It was a good idea for the company to have their name on the sole since who could remember the brand name Staheekeem?
Before the pandemic you could go to the store and pick something up on impulse. You can impulse buy online too and certainly Amazon’s algorithms may give you some ideas. But it’s no replacement for actually going to the store and purchasing something you didn’t intend to buy, even an item like a gadget you didn’t no existed.
Buying something new that you’ve always wanted is a good way to enhance your mood. However there is a warm comfort in throwing away something old and worn out and buying an identical new, fresh replacement. It could be other worn out items like undergarments or kitchen ware. You could take advantage of the current deals to buy a new cellphone to replace your clunky old flip phone.
There really is such a thing as retail therapy and studies show that it is often effective. There’s also kitchen therapy, cooking therapy, or the more hoity-toity sounding culinary therapy. These are pretty much interchangeable terms. They also can be effective mood enhancers.