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Clickbait: It’s Not All Doom and Gloom

Fifth week blues have faded away in a mess of welfare, work and woe. Now it’s finally seventh week, and in the interest of being over the hump and entering into the homestretch I thought I’d take a break from the usual cynicism and focus on some of the positive things in life. From the invitation you weren’t expecting to get to the moment when dinner in halls really hits the spot, there’s something positive to be found everywhere. It’s funny really, that bogged down under essay crises and soul-crippling tiredness we tend to forget the finer things. All those little victories and comforts that come up day-by-day, guaranteed to put smiles on our faces. Often they’re small, so ordinary and seemingly insignificant that we let them go by without stopping to appreciate them, but maybe we’d all be a little happier if we did.

Making Tea:

Perhaps this is my insanely British temperament coming out but this simply had to wind up at the top of the list. Making a cup of tea, whether with your friends arguing over who ate the last Jaffa Cake or alone at the end of a mammoth work session, is one of the most comforting things a person can do. The warmth of the mug in your hand, the acquired memories of every other cup of tea you’ve ever had, the action of sitting down to drink it, that elusive promise of a biscuit to accompany it. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable experience beaten possibly only by someone making a cup of tea for you. There’s nothing quite as social as inviting someone over for a cuppa, a chat and a catch-up. Even alone, making a cup of tea can serve as a wonderful form of procrastination, but unlike the guilt of scrolling through Facebook or bingeing a series on Netflix, making a cup of tea makes you feel inherently better.

Getting Changed:

John Keats once wrote “whenever I find myself growing vapourish, I rouse myself, wash and put on a clean shirt.” The man was not wrong. There’s a great pleasure in getting changed, no matter the situation. From putting on clean clothes after a shower and feeling instantly fresher to the soft, fluffy comfort of finally changing into pyjamas at the end of a long day. There’s the tantalising excitement of getting dressed before a night out or the pride as you put on your black tie, straightening your bow tie in the mirror and revelling in the fact that you feel like James Bond. (We’ve all done it! I still do in fact.) Getting changed is one of those things we do every day, and beyond deciding our outfits we don’t really think about it, but it’s a nice and refreshing moment and it’s worth focusing on.

Listening to your favourite song:
Even if your favourite song is horrifically depressing, sung by some warbling and disillusioned person complaining about the lover that jilted them, you’re bound to feel good after listening to your favourite song. Everyone has that one song they can effortlessly recite every lyric to. The song that, when they sing it, they are transported in their minds eye to the O2 arena giving the performance of their lives. The one where you close your eyes and just scream out the words, oblivious to everything but the fact that this song just speaks to you. Listen to this song, give that concert and just enjoy yourself. There’s only one thing more satisfying than singing your favourite song alone in your room at the top of your voice, and that’s singing along with a friend. So find a song you and your mates all love, put it on and dance like no one’s watching. It’s a great bonding experience, it’s great fun and it’s guaranteed to put a huge smile on your face.

Finding money in your pockets:

This is a weird one. It was your money in the first place. You’ve not earned any more money, you’re no richer than you were before, but you feel like you are. For some strange and unbeknownst reason you suddenly feel liberated. Even if it’s just a fiver, you can afford anything. It changes your entire outlook for a few minute, inducing a wave of uncontrollable hedonism where you convince yourself you deserve to treat yourself with this newfound fortune. Well why not? Spend that money, treat yourself and enjoy whatever the hell it is you bought. You’re evidently being rewarded for something, so take pride in it.

Getting a Compliment:

Now obviously a random stranger isn’t going to approach you on the street, fall to his knees and loudly proclaim your beauty for everyone to hear. In fact, with the way the British are, most compliments wind up being followed by a vaguely awkward silence and uncomfortable feet-scuffling but beyond this, you’re bound to feel good. The odds of you not getting a single compliment in a day are almost negligible. So listen out. It may be something tiny like someone saying they like your hair or that you’re wearing a nice shirt. It may be a positive comment on your work by a tutor (ha!) or it might even be just someone stopping you to say hi, or unexpectedly texting you. Every so often, when we’re lucky, someone says something so nice you walk round beaming like an idiot. Enjoy the compliments, take them the way they’re intended to be taken, let them make you feel happy. There’s nothing awkward about a compliment, they’re some of the best things about human interaction.

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