What Made Me Happy in 2025 | Week 2

A walk in rain & storm, visiting the library, analogue books - and granting myself a day off

Jan 13, 2025

View over the Rantzauer See, a leaf-less tree in front, dark clouds

I deeply enjoy giving attention to the good things I encounter throughout the day. They can come in all forms and be of all sorts, big or small. They can be inspiring or beautiful, laughing-out-loud funny or just silently stunning, kind, warm or moving, they can provide comfort or new insights.

They are seldom life-changing, but to focus on them day by day can become life-changing.

I’ve chosen JOY as my word for this year and I’d love to share with you what made me happy in the past week. Maybe you’d like to share what made you happy, too?!

Here’s what made me happy last week:

A walk in rain & storm

On Monday, my husband and I went out for a walk in rain and storm. The day before, it had snowed beautifully and a thin white blanket of snow had covered the lawn and even the path in front of our house.

Over night, temperatures went up from 0° to 11° Celsius. The snow melted away with the stormy entrance of Monday shortly after midnight. (Well, it was mild just for one day and one day only.)

We enjoyed a walk around the lake in the stormy rain where an umbrella was utterly useless. We got wet and windswept, and I loved it. I never thought I’d enjoy it that much! Feeling the wind tugging at my clothes and hair, leaning against a squall like it was (almost) solid. Sensing the raindrops on my face, laughing about my increasingly restricted vision due to rain on my glasses. (Being a spectacle wearer proves to be a slight disadvantage here.)

It may not seem much to you, but for me it was a another small step towards my intention to connect with nature more. Not hiding under an umbrella, shielding myself from the elements like I used to. Or worse: Not going out at all because it’s too windy, to rainy, too cold, too hot ... Not waiting for the perfect conditions to go outside, but just, well, go outside. It can be that simple.

Windswept and wet, we treated ourselves to a rare visit to our favourite restaurant. We had the place to ourselves, and we enjoyed our meal in the quiet winter garden overlooking the lake, feeling as if we were watching an aquarium - or a car wash, the rain streamed so hard on the windows at times, while we were warm and comfy. A lovely start to the week!

Visiting the library & analogue books

I read A LOT (121 books in 2024, to give you an idea) and there’s no way I could afford to buy all these books, so I’m an avid library user. Especially as I prefer analogue books over e-books.

Nothing beats a ‘real’ book for me. I love that so many senses are involved: how it feels in my hand, the weight, the smell, the possibility to quickly flick back or forth through a book, putting an actual bookmark in and see how much I still have left to enjoy (as opposed to a cold percentage displayed on the screen). When I close it and leave it on the table, I’m constantly reminded of the world that awaits me because it’s present all the time, it’s part of my life, and I love it that way.

E-books are sterile in comparison. I try to avoid them as much as possible and only use them when all else fails, also partly because I don't want to be looking at a screen all the time.

As my local library was closed for a two-week christmas break, I had to rely on e-books for a while, so I was delighted to make my first visit this year and swap Richard Osman’s latest (read my review here) for John Lewis-Stempel’s Meadowland. More orders are due to arrive next week. Looking forward …

I also bumped into several people I know and we chatted for quite a while. Instead of five minutes, I stayed for almost an hour. The library as a meeting place full of positive energy and inspiring books. Still love it (although I don’t work as a librarian any more).

Granting myself a day off (well, three quarters of a day)

By the middle of the week, I realised how overwhelmed I had been for days, how much pressure I had put on myself with my writing (ironically enough because of a text about unlearning pressure that just wouldn’t work - Update: I finished it a week later, here it is.) and with insisting on getting things done in real life, even though I had only enough energy for half days at the best before my battery ran out.

On Wednesday, I finally acted on it after another half-hearted attempt to get anything done. I didn’t try to push through any more, but allowed myself a day off (a privilege of being self-employed).

I disconnected myself from the Internet and the world to sleep, rest, read and recharge my batteries for the rest of the day because I simply needed it.

I snuggled up in bed under a warm blanket, my biggest mug of tea next to me on the bedside table, and lost myself in a book about an expedition in Greenland (yes, another one). This time I followed Alfred Wegener, a German climatologist, geologist, geophysicist, meteorologist, and polar researcher, on his third expedition to Greenland in 1929. This exploratory trip laid the groundwork for the main expedition beginning the following year with the goal to establish three Arctic stations on the same parallel (and on which Wegener would ultimately die). 1929 was about exploring a suitable place to reach the Greenland ice sheet, creating storage sites and assessing equipment and materials. Wegener and his team also carried out preliminary scientific research, including ice-drilling in order to gain knowledge about the melting and accumulation of the ice, as well as a seismic method to measure the thickness of the Greenland ice sheet.

You may already know (or have guessed by now) that I’m a snow lover at heart and love books set in the cold (if not, I’ve attached a link to a post I did about it down below). It’s one of my go-to habits when everything feels too much.

Well, it did help. I felt much better the next day.

I love my reliable places of retreat!

Until next time and have a lovely week!

Claudia