I genuinely don’t know. I only know what makes me momentarily forget about the lack of happines but I don’t think that’s the same thing.
I would normally say thats strange, but after covid, I can only say its normal.
I want to go back to the 1990s but have to be here in 2025.
Anhedonia perhaps?
Bird photography. I’m a person who tends toward depression. It was honestly very surprising the first time I noticed that when I’m photographing birds I have a huge smile on my face the whole time.
I’ve been learning the ins and outs of my camera gear for the last year and making small improvements is really satisfying. But really it’s just being out in nature, looking at adorable birds and capturing those moments for later.
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His wife:
Love herons!
Dopamine mostly
Tinkering/assembling stuff and see it come to life. Bonus points if it’s something my kids can join in on.
Other contenders: (good) food, music, weather
Walking my dog in a winter forest.
Cheese.
A simple man I see
“Sometimes, I dream about cheese…”
Sometimes you got to say, “Please”
Sometimes you got to say, “Hey”
Video games.
It really depends. Sometimes it’s drumming, sometimes going on an outing and doing car karaoke on the way, and sometimes I can’t find anything that helps and just have to wait for unhappiness to subside.
Someone else’s genitals on my face.
Cuddling with my partner in bed. Especially early in the morning, when I give myself an extra half hour to just stay close together for a little while longer.
Fixing things. Mostly if it’s for someone else.
Unfortunately as far as work goes, two of the things that make me most unhappy: driving, traffic, are tied to the job of fixing things for people so I quit that job :/
Damn. I usually got around that by having people send things to me to fix at my workbench, and then I mail them back.
Making music
Substance abuse and PC gaming
I’d say probably dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin.
oxytocin
Unless you trauma-bonded with an abuser
You know it’s a naturally produced hormone, right?
Yes, very natural.
Natural for mothers to yell at their kids, tell them they’re worthless, then next day go “I love you”.
(sorry I’m not in a good mood, anger isn’t directed at you)
Apologies if this stirred up some shit.
Interestingly, oxytocin also augments in-group bias
There’s certainly a lot of that around here!
my cat, my friends, FOG!, snow in the morning, a good cuppa coffee…
mostly it’s having a nice moment to enjoy anything rly 😅
