30 seconds of survival during tough times: what is yours today?

[Peppermintbach]

Hi everyone,

I have a little survival idea that want to run by you all:

I’m not asking for 30 hours or even 30 minutes. I’m only asking:

If you have been going through a hard time or struggling with something (whatever that may be) what were 30 seconds of respite, reprieve or relief that you experienced today? What were you doing in those 30 seconds?

You can write as often as you like or as infrequently as you like. It also doesn’t have to be 30 seconds either. That’s just a number that I chose, because I thought it would be doable for most people. It can be more or less than 30 seconds of survival.

I would love to hear from you 🙂

I’ll start:

On my way to work, I spotted some Christmas decorations, and instantly thought “oh, that’s so pretty!”

30 seconds of relief from my troubles. 30 seconds of survival.

Background/inspiration for this thread:

I was inspired by a book that I’ve been reading. It’s based on real life events where a woman lost her husband unexpectedly, and was left both a widow & single parent overnight.

As you can imagine, she struggled with immense grief and loss, and was unsure when she would be able to see beyond it...reminders of him were everywhere, and she wasn’t sure when the pain would ever subside.

But during a work meeting, while giving a presentation (or maybe she was chairing a meeting?), in that brief period, she forgot about her loss as she was immersed in her work. Sure, of course, her grief returned (as it often does). But in that brief moment, she felt a sense of “normalcy”, if there ever was such a thing.

Okay, so maybe work won’t be your “thing” and maybe it’s not grief that you’re struggling with. Maybe it’s something else (that’s okay and valid).

What I’m getting at is recognising our capacity to survive by recalling brief moments of survival. It all adds up...

Moments when either your pain, heartbreak, loss, disappointment (whatever you’re going through) was temporarily forgotten or even subsided a little. Moments, however fleeting but nonetheless important, of survival 🙂

[Padfoot02]

Hi people 😄

I hope you're doing well.

My 30 seconds today was hanging out with Rhiannon when I finished school and we went shopping for her 19th birthday party this weekend. Unlike a lot of birthdays, I managed to buy something for her at least a week in advance and I used my own money to do so. I bought her a guns n roses cd off of eBay. I think she'll like it.

That's about all that's new from me as of recently.

I hope you all stay warm during the winter days and nights

from Padfoot

[Cherryblue]

I recently got a kitten after my dog needed euthanising at home, she hated the vets, she was 16 and had had a stroke. I wake a lot with adrenaline rushes/anxiety very early. Often my kitten is curled up and she often makes her way to me. I now Look to find her as those moments in the morning with her give me great comfort and calm

[Gambit87]

my 30 seconds recently was my mum and dad coming up to see me and my partner and having lunch at my favorite local cafe. Absolutely beautiful day.

[Padfoot02]

Hi everyone,

Today my 30 seconds was hanging out with Rhiannon after school and getting the CDs I bought off of eBay in the mail. I got Rhiannons gnr cd and I bought myself a cd called Generation Punk, it has songs from a bunch of classic punk bands like Operation Ivy, My Chemical Romance and Green Day to name a few. On a major down note, our cat had 5 kittens and when I got home there were 4 and there was blood in the kitchen. I'm pretty sure it was the oldest of our cats because there was dried blood on his paw. At some point I realised I wasn't looking for a kitten anymore, I was/am looking for a corpse. So yeah. Fun times. Sorry, it got sad at the end there but yeah, shit happens and there's nothing I can really do about it.

Anyway, I hope you're all staying safe during the winter and that you're having a good day in general.

from Padfoot

[Padfoot02]

Hi everyone, long time no see.

I hope everyone's doing well, my 30 seconds for the last couple of days include going to Rhiannon's 19th birthday party and having a couple of drinks with her and mates, finishing my last assessment for school on Friday (I had two due on that day, my English and an art essay) and having 2 hours of music this morning at school.

My main 30 seconds today is going to be shoe shopping this afternoon with one of my friends who is staying at my place till she has to go to work. I also had a pretty chilled out chemistry lesson today and I got my art essay results back today, I got 12/20 which is the best I've done on any art essay. I got my music assessment results yesterday (the assessment was two performances and I did "Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra and "Holiday" by Green Day) I got 16/20 for fly me to the moon and 14/20 for holiday and the places I lost marks I can actually see and know how to fix.

https://youtu.be/lAQVOpzP7rc

I also thought I'd add a link to my song to this post in case anyone wanted to give it a listen, it's also on Spotify under the same name.

Anyway, I hope you all stay safe and warm during the winter. And I hope to hear from someone soon

from Padfoot

[quirkywords]

My 30 secs was focusing on the vo,u tear work I like and not on the argument I had in the morning,

[Padfoot02]

Hi everyone,

Mt 30 seconds yesterday was hanging out with Rhiannon after school to celebrate our 4 month anniversary. Which made me really happy because it'd the longest relationship I've ever had. I also got back on better terms with my sister after 2 months of nothing from her. It took a lot of crying, anger and shouting but it was good. I also had at school band practice where my band started to learn Na Na Na by MCR together. And by that I mean I taught the bass player the notes she needs to play and for how long and our drummer started learning the rhythm for the song.

My 30 seconds for today is the fact that my school is having an out of uniform day, it's the last day of the term, one of my friends is coming over for the weekend, we're probably going to dye my hair black tonight and I'm helping to test the school computers for a gaming comp the school is having next term. Overall, today isn't too bad of a day. The main problems are that I'm really sleepy and I'm bored out of my mind during the first three periods at school. But other than that it's a good day.

I hope you all stay warm and safe for the next month or two.

from Padfoot

[quirkywords]

Acceptance of fighting accept this is a bad year and muddle on

[Doog]

Hi, I kind of went curry during iso too! From Indian to Thai, then more and more chilli!

My 30 seconds is a laugh for all that I spent using toilet paper I had trouble buying at the time.

It's ok to be able to laugh at yourself! Be safe

[Gambit87]

my 30 seconds (well, way longer then 30 seconds) was going for a long bike ride. Feels so free.