Welcome to another installment of The Happiness Series! My guest series where bloggers answer questions on happiness. This week I’m delighted to welcome Bread from Winging It & Weird and Important. Here’s Bread on happiness…
1. Name three things in life that make you happy. And, please tell us a little about each one.
My wife and unborn child, writing and custard. My wife is pretty much my grounding direction in my life, has really given me a reason to live rather than just exist. Writing has always been something that’s made me happy, or give me comfort. During the worst times, I’ve had writing as an outlet from the age of around 15. And custard is basically the best thing invented.
2. What’s something you do to find your happiness when you’ve lost it?
I usually curl up with my wife, or have an early night and sleep it off. I tend to wake up happier after a good night’s sleep.
3. What cheers you up after a long, difficult day?
Coming home and having a cup of tea and a sit down with my wife. I love tea. Just being able to sit and drink a cup of tea, properly – not slurp down half of it in between jobs and phone calls before pouring the rest away. A quick spin on the x-box cheers me up too.
4. Does your job make you happy? If you are a SAH parent, does that make you happy?
Most of the time yeah. I have a pretty rewarding job – I’m a dispenser at a busy pharmacy and emotionally it’s rewarding, but not a lot of people see what we do or how hard we work, I’m not sure a lot of other people would see it the same way I do. I find satisfaction in the knowledge that I am helping people take their medication correctly (I make up trays of medication for customers) and get their medication even when it’s really stressful.
5. Share a happy memory with us.
I will always remember the first time my wife met my nephew. We’d only been going out for a couple of weeks at the time but I adored her already. My nephew was only seven at the time, and went on to be my best man. The three of us spent the day in Aberystwyth together (where me and my wife lived at the time), and I just knew she was the one then because she got on so well with the most important person in my life.
6. Do you think money can bring happiness?
No. It can make life easier certainly, but it doesn’t bring happiness no. You have to do good things with it for it to be a source of any happiness. I wrote an entire post about it on my blog.
7. Is your happiness influenced by the things you do or the way you think?
As someone who suffers from mental health problems, for me it’s certainly influenced by the way I think. I can be doing the best thing or the worst thing, but if I feel bad, I feel bad regardless until the mood passes or shifts. It’s the way my brain works and I found therapy very helpful in changing the way I think. These days the bad thoughts are fewer and further between and so I am able to enjoy the good things I do and deal with the bad things much better.
8. Which would make you the happiest – a sun holiday, new car or a new job opportunity?
Car, probably. I can’t really afford one, but it would help a lot if my wife could get her British license and we could get a car (preferably a camper van of some sorts). I don’t drive and may never drive, but we live on the edge of nowhere so it would help if we didn’t have to completely rely on public transport.
9. Which wine makes you happier – red or white?
Neither. I don’t don’t drink anymore. When I did I didn’t really drink wine either. Now I only drink at Christmas and at Thanksgiving. Whenever I go out (which is rarely) I drink lemonade. Or tea.
10. Share a quote that makes you smile.
“It was a spiritual journey.” – My nephew. Today. After herd 500 rubber ducks down a river, falling in, getting up and carrying on. He’s 12. He says a million things that make me laugh so much. Once he told me he didn’t believe in mice. I love this kid.
I’m Bread, a weird queer geek and poet living in Wales, and starting a family with my wife. I have two blogs Weird and Important – which is about mental health issues, LGBT stuff and writing – and Winging It – a blog about starting a family as a queer couple in Wales. Social media: Twitter: anxiousgeek | Facebook | Instagram: Winging It
