Things That Make Me So Happy I Could Pee My Pants

by Alicia Costa

The last few weeks at work have been extremely stressful for me. And it’s throwing the rest of my life out of whack because I’m just so grumpy and tired all the time. I’ve been trying all my old tricks to keep myself relaxed (working out, getting a lot of sleep, eating healthy, talking my friends ear off) but nothing seemed to help.

So I’ve been trying to really focus on all the good I do have in my life right now. Inspired by this piece in XO Jane I sat down to write my own list of “things that make me so happy I could pee my pants” or ‘Things that make me do this:

• Seeing a little girl downtown wearing the most amazing power clash outfit and giving no fucks (she was wearing polka dot pants, a stripped shirt, had a bumble bee back pack, and had a zebra print umbrella). You go kid.
• Waking up and feeling the warm body of the cat curled up against my back.
• Emails from my mom, which are, always signed xoxoxoxoxoxoxo Mommy.
• Emails from my grandma.
• Driving home from work and the sun was shining and the windows were down and “You Can Do It” by Ice Cube comes on the radio and I felt LIKE SUCH A BOSS.
• Chubby kids in trendy clothes. Don’t you ever let anyone tell you you are too chubby for skinny jeans.
• Cherry blossoms.
• Feeling so devastated that Christopher Abbott is leaving the cast of Girls… but then I found this and forgot what my name is for half an hour…
• The impeding arrival of my best friends’ twin boys (squeeeeeeee!)
• Looking at baby clothes and getting exciting about all the obnoxious matching outfits I’m going to dress above-mentioned twins in.
• The return of Game of Thrones.
• Making out with a cute guy.
• Reuniting with an old friend.
• Pajama pants.
• Scoring a dress on the clearance rack at Old Navy for .97 and then using a 20% coupon on it (WIN).
• Wine for dinner.
• Freshly painted nails.
• Having a dream that I was in the cast of Girls and we were in a photo shoot for the cover of Vanity Fair (Note: this is my second favourite dream. My favourite was about me being a super famous plus-sized swimsuit model).
• My morning flirt with the cute barista at Blenz.
• Feeling tingly after a hot bath.
• Meeting one of my favourite authors Amber Dawn.
• Winning a bunch of amazing books.
• The start of roller derby season.
• Spending hours making baby-themed crafts.
• Always having the appropriate Girls quote on hand for any situation.

I encourage everyone to do this. Even if you are so miserable right now the thought of anything making you happy seems impossible. It was a powerful exercise for me because if I’m really honest with myself there is so much in my life right now that is good. And I bet there is some awesome things in your world too.