I have been a Moodscope reader for more than 5 years now, and every time I saw a blog post that actually changed my mood or uplifted me in a way, I would wonder if I could ever do the same, pay it forward to the community and make somebody else feel a little better through my words or my experience.

Recently, I was chatting with a friend, and I was complaining about how hard and different things are these days: my family is in another country, Christmas will not be with them this year, my friends are all over Europe and since Covid, I wasn't able to visit any of them, my marriage has its ups and downs, and overall, I just do not feel good. I was fired 3 months ago, luckily I found another job, but the feeling of just being fired is an awful feeling to deal with. He stopped me then and asked me "Why aren't you sharing all these emotions with other people? You know you're not alone in this, right? And you know there are thousands of people that go through the same things as you do." I instantly thought of the Moodscope blog, which helped me so many times. 

After this discussion, I stopped for a second and thought that I am not a complainer most of the time, and I just choose to see the "victim" in me: I have a loving family - indeed, far away, but they're there, I have a loving partner who's doing his best to cope with the reality we're all facing, I have friends that are looking forward to meeting again and have amazing experiences together. I just can't change the fact that the world is completely numb right now and there's nothing wrong with accepting that we cannot control this situation, but we can nurture ourselves with kindness, with love, and with gratitude that we're still alive and we can still see the sun in the morning, have that sip of coffee and breathe that fresh air. 

Discovering what makes me a little bit more content with life is a daily habit, and it's worth investing the time and the energy in it. Counting daily blessings is one of the habits I nourished recently, and today I'm grateful that I had the courage to write this very first blog. 

Maybe more to come? 

With love, 

Simina

A Moodscope member.