Enjoying the Simple Things - Part Two

 Here is post two in this series and here are the next 10 simple things that I/we enjoy in our everyday life:

1. Growing Our Own Food - Although I can't really take any credit for doing this at the moment, as it is OH in our family that grows the food on our allotment these days, there is something wonderful about eating your own home grown food. I don't even think it necessarily tastes any better than bought food, but just the satisfaction of being able to produce it yourself, with your own toil and care, is immensely satisfying and good for the soul. We hand over so much responsibility to large corporations to produce our food these days, they control what goes in it, on it and how much it costs, it's just good to claw back some control over what we put in our mouths.
2. Making Quilts - As any regular reader knows, I love to quilt, hand quilt that is, for the most part. Lately, I've been a big fan of English Paper Pieceing. It's quite a long laborious process, but I love every stage of it and I especially love the end result. I love that I can get absorbed in it and forget everything else. I also love that it usually costs virtually nothing and helps me use up fabric from my existing stash. It can take me anything from a few months to several years to finish a quilt. It feels like it is part of who I am and I put something of me into every single quilt. 
3. Being an Introvert - I've only realised in recent months that I am actually an introvert. It never occurred to me for the first 55 years of my life that I might be one. In fact, I used to think that there was something wrong with me, because I didn't always find social situations easy. I took the Myers/Briggs test recently and it was a revelation to me. Knowing what I now know, it all makes sense. I spent hours alone as a child, happy and self contained and I think that that is actually my preferred state. Don't get me wrong, I like people, but I like time alone. Knowing that this is a part of being me, I am finally coming around to accepting myself more for who I really am.
4. Appreciating Beauty - Whether it's a flower, a piece of art, a song, a piece of classical music, a well made TV series or a beautiful design on fabric, appreciating the beauty in many different things is a great way to stay positive. There's plenty of ugly in the world, appreciating beautiful things helps me get through the day. Appreciating them without wanting to own them is even better.
5. Napping - I have to admit that I love to nap. I've probably mentioned napping a lot in my posts in recent months. I know that it is a bit self indulgent, but sometimes the best thing you can do for your physical and mental health is to have a nap, as and when you feel like it. I know not everyone has the time to nap and may consider it a luxury, but if you can carve out an hour for yourself here and there, it can be a joy.
6. Not Spending Money on Unnecessary Things - In the past, I could spend money with the best of them. I've always liked to shop. In fact, I think at one point in my life, I was definitely addicted to shopping, mostly buying things that were completely unnecessary. I'm now at the stage in my life where I'd like to own a lot less, but it's still not easy to just get rid of everything, so I try to be careful what I bring into the house. To my surprise, it's not actually that difficult and it is a bit like a muscle. The more you practice it the stronger you get at it. It's allowed me to leave a job I wasn't enjoying and spend less time working and my life doesn't feel any the less because of it.
7. Finding Things for Free - In keeping with the last item, I do enjoy finding things for free, but only if I can actually make use of them. Sometimes, I have brought things home, that I've found on the street or at a Zero Waste Event, and I haven't actually got any use from them, but when I find something that serves a useful purpose, it does bring a great sense of joy. When I look around my house, there are many things that I've found for free, many of which are in every day use. Money isn't the be all and end all. If we are all a little generous and spread our good fortune around, this means that everyone can potentially benefit at times from free things, saving us all from spending at least some of our hard earned cash.
8. Giving Things Away for Free - In addition to finding things for free, I also enjoy the simple act of giving things away that I no longer want to keep. Yes, I could potentially sell some things, but sometimes the effort is not worth it and I'm far happier just giving things away for free. Whether I give them to the charity shop, a Zero Waste event or just put them out on the street, depends on what they are, but to know someone might benefit from something you no longer have use for, is very satisfying.  There are many people out there who have very little and might really appreciate finding something for free, especially at the moment with the cost of living crisis. I'm just happy if something I no longer want/need can have another chance at life with someone else.
9. Driving our Hybrid Car - I love driving our hybrid car. It is so easy to drive, is virtually silent in a very noisy world (although this can be a problem if people don't hear you approaching) and it uses less fuel, which means we spend less money on petrol. I also like it because it is an automatic. I learned to drive in a manual car and was always put off driving automatics, as it didn't feel like proper driving. I was somehow mistrustful of them, even though my father owned a few automatic cars when I was growing up. I/we still chose to own manual cars when I/we bought cars, until we got this one. Now, I can't imagine going back to a manual car. In fact, we rented one on holiday this year and even OH struggled with gear changes at times after 10 years of driving our automatic car. What was I so scared of? (Forgetting how to drive a manual car perhaps!!)
10. Owning Premium Bonds - In the last five years, I've made an effort to invest in Premium Bonds. Whilst the interest rates on savings were very low, it made sense to me to invest in them, as I wasn't earning hardly any interest anywhere and the simple joy of winning a prize some months was unbeatable. I don't win prizes every month, but finding out I'd won £150 in one month, was definitely a highlight. Although interest rates are higher now and I could get more interest on my money elsewhere, I do still enjoy the simplicity of the Premium Bond and the surprise when that notification email drops into your inbox to say you've won something that month.

There is one more post in this series, covering the final 10 simple things that I enjoy in life. This list, however, is not all encompassing, as there are probably so many more things I could add.