I’ve got two bunnies running around my place. They do cute things, like bunnies do. It’s hard to be upset when you watch them frolicking together.

This one makes it impossible to be sad when she’s around.

I step away from the internet for a bit. Most often cooking. I love to cook and it is very relaxing, but I don’t really eat much. So I tend to foist everything off on my partner.

If my partner isn’t around or I have already fed her, then I probably play some relaxed video game like Rimworld (I play very chill colonies) or Stardew.

That first sentence is the most important part though.

unironically, gay sex

Pick a fitness goal you want to accomplish. I like lifting the heaviest weights I can, so I go to the gym 3x a week. My partner, who has never had an affinity for fitness, has found yoga brings them a lot of back pain relief and they enjoy the other associated benefits (flexibility, mindfulness).

Having a pet really helps. Our chihuahua gives us hearty laughs every day.

I started keeping a few houseplants and didn’t enjoy it at all for about 3 years, but being the caretaker for a helpless living thing, and watching it grow and thrive, has awakened something in me.

I really like lighting up some weed at the end of the day and having a little meditation and perspective about my day/month/life.

I also have a convertible and I’ll be damned if driving that thing doesn’t put a smile on my face most days

Laughter yoga is stupid but it works because it’s stupid.

Hold an imaginary cup in each hand and make ‘wubwubwub’ sound effects as you pour the imaginary water from cup to cup. Then, after five pours, drop both cups and laugh out loud.

It’s so fucking stupid and it infuriates me that it will shake me out of a downward spiral if I catch it early enough.

Exercise is a natural anti-depressant. That doesn’t make the depression go away, but it flattens the valleys and gives you a reasonable way to relieve stress that is both good for you and no one will shit on you for.

It’s like a harder, but healthier form of doing drugs.

I simply do not cheer up

Some church dork or dorks near me keep printing the same antisocialist Christian fundamentalist pamphlet and pinning them up every few days in the same places around town. It’s garbo, nothing but Bible quotes and le reds killed trillions tier shit that only works on people who are already on board with the “god wants us all to pay rent and spit on the homeless” worldview. At night I ride my bike around finding them, turning them around and writing my own, more compelling communist slogans on the blank backsides. I’ve begun toughening my knuckles by boxing the lightposts at intersections while I’m at it.

I lift weights. I’ve been sick lately and haven’t been in a week and I’m fucking losing it comrade.

Anyway it really helps with mood and sleep as well.

Physical exercise, cook nice food, water plants, play video games and try to talk with or text with friends

Gardening in the spring and summer. Smoking half of my harvest during the fall and winter. (Plus usually enough veggies to usually have surplus to spread 'em to the neighbors I know will take 'em bc I’m anal about keeping my soil well fed and well tilled, so the yield is usually p good.)

I read.

I spend time with friends or try to extract dopamine from computer games. When the weather is nice I might shoot my slingshot or guns.

I got a miniature greenhouse set that you have to build from scratch. It takes up a lot of hours to do and it is my current project.

I make a lot of puzzles.

I have plants to take care of. Currently growing basil and a pepper plant as well.

I work out a lot, both for strength and cardio. Or I go for walks in nature.

I have a cat to take care of. She never fails to cheer me up.

I see my friends. We go to a bar or a museum or play indoor soccer or whatever.

Basically, I do things that make life worth living. It took me a while to figure out what I like to do and how to escape the life of eat, work, sleep, repeat. I don’t think that we as humans should only live to work but it can be hard to free yourself from that routine. What worked for me is to actually sort of plan what I will be doing in the week. Because that way, I would see something like ‘do a puzzle’ on my planner and eventually it would prevent me from sitting on my couch all evening watching dumb ass tv shows.