Anyone fancy a Do something new every day thread?

[woodcutbirds]

Been discussing how much it helped kick me out of depression to do something - anything - every day that I'd not done before or not since childhood, or something I was scared to do. It made more difference than anything else.
Does anyone fancy having a go at doing something new every day for a week?

Fencing a new cafe is a good one. Just shakes up the routine in a pleasant, easy way.
Sodding I hope tomorrow is a better day.

That's so funny Woodcut, Solitude Standing was one of the first I bought for this 'project'. So beautifully understated.
Think Macy Gray is on the 'to buy' list somewhere. Will try that Kate Bush album as the one I bought was a bit, erm, experimental (The Dreaming).

I love the fact it's made me confront my own musical prejudices: Always disliked Lady Gaga's music and could never get into Florence and the Machine. Now 'Joanne' and 'High as Hope' are two albums I couldn't live without!

Similarly, Beyonce was one of those artists I'd find myself singing along to, but wouldn't have liked enough to buy her music - now Lemonade is one of my 'go -to' albums for when i need a lift (and a dance around the living room)

My favourite female albums are Joni Mitchell's "Ladies of The Canyon" (just her and a piano) and Pink's "Funhouse" (about her divorce, that ended up not happening IRL). I'm going to check out the other albums listed on this thread, as a lovely New Thing. 🤗

I've done a new thing! Already! I made waffles! Not over a BBQ, but on the hob, and they were lovely.

On a bit of a mission today. I am so sick of not working from home. I'm going to take my laptop to a beautiful Victorian library about 20 mins away and stay there all day until I've finished work on this project. That's my new thing. Only been to the library once before, ages ago for an evening event, so I'll have to find it and hope it's not full of singing babies!

Ruffle it's good to overcome those musical prejudices isn't it. I had a student whose ILA was on Beyonce's Lemonade. I thought, 'God, really?'. But I listened to it and got absolutely sucked into it. It's a brilliant album.
I also love Haim's first album for a bit of indie pop - great to put on when you are redecorating. And Belly - if you don;t know them, they are brilliant. DH and I went to see them last year - they got back together - these 50+ year old rock chicks who had given it all up to have kids, and now the kids were rown they regrouped and went on tour. They were amazing. (And had packs of very dedicated male groupies who'd clearly followed them round the country, popping with excitement that they'd got back together, which was very funny.) It was so invigorating to see these powerful women playing rock guitar and bass and singing so well - emerging from the fog of motherhood. (Much as I love motherhood. It is true that you lose your self.)

Sodding if you like Ladies of the Canyon, have you listened to Blue by Joni Mitchell. One of the best albums ever!
And hob waffles! Sound lush.

Sorry - terrible typos. Typing fast and getting all energised by the memory of Belly's gig.

I randomly watched Beyonce's netflix doc "Homecoming" a couple of weeks ago and I can really recommend it if anyone is lookinf for something new to watch. I'm not a fan at all really, but I ended up really liking her by the end.

Today I have a meeting with the local MIND to see about going to some of their peer support group things. They do art groups and mindfulness and all sorts and I desperately need to get out and stop being so isolated. I thought it would be a good safe space amoungst people in the same boat. Worth a go anyway.

PowerBadgers I really hope that works out for you. It's a great idea to get active via MIND, where the support is inbuilt.

The laughing yoga I went to yesterday was run by MIND. I'd never been to one of their things before. It's so lovely, because instead of having to be all shiny in front of new people, your secret is already out, as it were, and you can just be yourself. It's a great relief. I'm going to go back to more things run by them. They were so impressive. Even the simple thing of after class, making a cup of tea and handing out biscuits and having a chat. Most classes end and people whizz off into their lives, so you end up feeling more isolated than before. This was so different in tone. It made me hope to see those people again. They seemed kind. And the world needs more kindness.

My new thing yesterday was a cup of tea in the garden.
A small thing but that was nice.
I brought my. iPad and realised it was a mistake as my focus was on the screen.
Next time, I will have ONLY a cup of tea wo distraction

Thanks for the Pink recommendation Hasthis. She's another artist I've been meaning to revisit. Love Joni Mitchell but must admit probably haven't given Ladies of The Canyon due attention. Blue is up there in my all time greats, however.

Those who love Joni might want to give Sandy Denny a listen, as she was sort of the British equivalent. Can't recommend a studio album of hers because her 'imposter syndrome' (as we would now call it) meant that she used to drown many of her beautiful songs in really rubbish overblown 70s production! Probably best to go for a compilation with lots of stripped down live/ demo versions like 'No More Sad Refrains' or the BBC Box Set. Or Liege and Lief with Fairport Convention which really does the power of her voice justice.

Woodcut Belly is one of those band names I recall from the depths of the 90s but somehow never listened to. I'll have to look them up now.

Good luck with the meeting Badgers. I watched the beginning of that Beyonce doc a few weeks ago but had to go to bed as I was knackered. Will get back to it when i have a free evening, maybe when the dcs are at their dad's.

I was going through a divorce when Funhouse came out, and that was perfect timing! I related to every song, especially "So What?" which is an anthem.

I tried listening to Blue this morning - my second new thing! - and it's really similar to LoTC. I love LoTC, it's the album I always listen to whenever I'm doing craft stuff.

DH is off work today doing job interviews, so we sloped off to vote and have a coffee earlier. We went to the new cafe that's opened. It was lovely!

Really love this thread.

Today I:
went to do some work in a new (to me) library
walked down some new streets to get there
bought some new trousers and a top

I went to the meeting and the person there was very nice. I might start going to a wellness group thing and see how it goes.

I also popped into the library and pootled around a lovely art exhibition they have on. I'd been meaning to go to it for ages but hadn't got around to it. So that's two new things. :)

That's brilliant Badgers. I'm glad they were welcoming. The laughter yoga I went to last night finishes next week and they are starting a wellbeing course. Thought I might try that. Can't hurt. I wonder if it's a similar thing.

There is no laughter yoga around where I am but I watched a couple of YouTube videos and .... laughed.

Thanks for that idea, I had never heard about it.

I’m hoping my GP can refer me to a counsellor specialised in ME. Due to budget cuts, I might have to jump through many hops and wait quite a while but I still hopeful. MIND has a group running for people with chronic illnesses but it didn’t feel like the right fit for me (or maybe it’s because I’m still struggling to consider myself as chronically ill)

Egg I would call ME a chronic illness. It stops you from functioning normally. You just can't do what you want and need to do on a daily basis. That in itself can bring on depression. If there's anything even vaguely useful to you at MIND I'd go for it. There's little enough support out there. Even if they share one single piece of valuable information or connect you with a single organisation that's of use to you, it would be worthwhile. (Don't mean to nag. Just meaning to be encouraging. Ignore if it's not what you need to hear right now.)

Excited about today's New Thing. A Spanish Fiesta at the South Bank. Going to put on a dress (for the first time in a long time) take the fan DS2 brought me back from his school Spanish trip, and dance some flamenco.

Just in case anyone is interested - I started taking some supplements - phenylalanine and L-Tyrosine and magnesium - both of which are supposed to increase your motivation. Did this because I realised I hadn't even emptied a suitcase from a trip away a month ago, or put away any washing for over a week. Signs that I'm slipping into immobility-depression. Anyhow, this morning I managed to hang out a wash, do another one, find out about the fiesta, clean the kitchen mess DC had left from late night snacking, empty and reload the dishwasher all by 9am on an inset day. So am hoping these supplements are working.

Definitely a chronic illness, but it's understandable if you would prefer not to view it in that way egg. Hopefully your GP will be able to help.

Sorry to keel hijacking this thread with music but two new things yesterday were doing the second online Irish singing lesson (that counts, right?) and 'borrowing' dd's Billie Eilish cd back to listen to all the way through. Which was surprisingly good in places.

Anyway, small new thing this morning was buying a 'Nakd' bar I hadn't tried before - the new gingerbread variety. Later I think I'm going to try applying for a new job - if i can find one I'd actually want to do!

Wow, enjoy your Flamenco dancing woodcut! Sounds exciting. That's interesting about you noticing the thing about the washing. Hope you're ok. I'm finding the idea of actually going out to the line and putting the washing out really draining at the moment for some reason. Feeling like i'd rather have the washing drying in the house even though it's gorgeous outside. Wtf?

@woodcutbirds

Just in case anyone is interested - I started taking some supplements - phenylalanine and L-Tyrosine and magnesium - both of which are supposed to increase your motivation.

I'm so glad you posted this - I've had 3 bottles of L-Tyrosine in the cupboard for ages, but I couldn't remember why I'd bought them! I've just taken one now, with a swig of the Florix Magnesium stuff I (also) bought months ago but had ignored.

Is phenylalanine the one in chocolate? I hope so. 😆 I've probably overdosed on that.

My NEW THING today is in the oven - a Red Velvet cake for DS1's 16th birthday. It's two tiers, plus a third one that I'm going to make into a Glok handgun because he's nuts about all kinds of weaponry, and this is the one that Snake (??) uses in Metal Gear Solid (???).

DS doesn't have exams today and he's currently languishing in bed do I should be able to secretly complete the whole thing without his noticing. 🙄

And @woodcutbirds - your Spanish day sounds AMAZING! I hope you have a fantastic fiesta of an experience! ¡Ole!

@RuffleCrow

Good luck in your job hunt! That's so exciting, and will lead to a multitude of new experiences! I have everything crossed that you find something perfect.

Ruffle we can never have too much good music. Good luck with the job hunt (and the Nakd bar.)

Sodding that Red Velvet cake sounds amazing. I've never made one. DC and DH love them. They buy themselves slices from Hummingbird or Konditor sometimes as a treat. It sounds like a great birthday cake.

I think the supplements are helping. I feel more clear-headed and less as though every single step is an effort. Just hung the second wash load out and folded this morning's and was barely aware I was doing it. Don't know if phenylalanine is the chocolate one. I'll have to google it.

It's taken me ages to work out what kind of depression I get. GP always put me on SSRIs which were serotonin based. But what I lack is dopamine - the 'get up and go' motivational chemical. It's low at the best of times - I struggle to get stuff done. But in a proper depression I actually can't physically move. I freeze, like a computer with a spinning rainbow wheel. And SSRIs didn't help with that at all. So now I'm trying to massively up my dopamine levels with supplements, bananas, almonds and turkey to see if it helps.

Did you know that dopamine responds to novelty and new experiences? It's true. So this thread is actually a freakishly accurate way to boost your dopamine levels!

Low dopamine can be a sign of ADHD, too.

Sadly, phenylalanine isn't in chocolate but it IS in Diet Coke! (Well, it's produced as a side effect from drinking aspartame.)

Wow, Sodding thank you so much for all this info. I had no idea about any of this (despite constantly googling causes of and treatments for depression. )

This is really eye opening. DS2 has ADD and low mood - he guzzles diet drinks and eats cheese all the time. Maybe this is why. And I'm pretty sure I have undiagnosed ADD. Lifelong disorganisation, forgetfulness and inability to complete tasks.

I'm really chuffed that dopamine is increased by new experiences. But how weird. When I was on an absolute mission to knock depression and chronic fatigue on its head I tried everything I could think of and the one thing that worked was trying new things. I wonder if that;s because at the time I assumed it was a lack of serotonin not dopamine, so kept doing serotonin boosting things, and only by accident hit on something that improves dopamine levels?

I feel really uplifted by this new info, Sodding - thank you.

Right: new things, bananas, diet coke and tyrosine. I want to see whether these will finally get me off the sofa and crossing stuff off the to-do list that has been languishing for a couple of years.