What's the best part of your life right now?

I've started practicing yoga. It's been about two weeks and I love it. I like pushing my body to do the poses and finding out that most of the time I can actually do more than I thought I could. And if I can't, that's another opportunity to get better.
Thanks for asking this question. Have a nice one.

Actually, the thing that is causing me stress is also my source of joy.
I quit weed last week. Going through withdrawals which are pretty bad, but I know in the long term, it's going to be worth it to have a clear mind.
- Been there too many times to count, you got this!

This post. There are a lot of negative news in the world and Lemmy feels often pessimistic. Reading everybody's answers made me feel lighter, so thank you for the question
- I'm glad you are enjoying it, and as am I, it's been so nice to read about all the good in everyone's lives.
  I feel like Lemmy is kind of like anything else in that you get out of it what you put into it to a degree.

My crow bro, Kenny. Most days I go for a walk after work and meet up with him to feed him some peanuts or dog food.
- This is so fucking cool, nobody I know has a crow bro. How did y'all grow to be friends?
  
  Crows are smart. Look at them and toss some unsalted peanuts in their general direction and they'll understand what you're doing. After a couple of visits they'll recognize you and slowly get more relaxed around you. They each have their own personalities, where some will be easier to befriend than others, so just give them space and time.

I quit my unecessarily stressful job with no plan next, and I feel like anything is possible now!

I quit a higher paying job to move to the Columbia River gorge. Sure I make a lot less money but I'm so happy being out in this beautiful area. There's something calming about it
- Dude, that's awesome!

Anarchism and Syndicalism—Anarcho-syndicalism bring me joy, alongside Debian and Linux.
Im happy in life because I don't have to use Windows and proprietary software that limits my freedom to modify my system to my liking.

A friend just had his first kid yesterday, he’s so happy it’s honestly contagious. Everyone in our group is already doting the kid and he’s only 12 hours old.
- New life is the gift that keeps on giving ❤️

The home server im setting up. I can finally break free of the clutches of cloud storage.
- Oh buddy, I'm right there with you. I just got a free cpu and mobo off marketplace and got my own thing running, I had so much fun figuring it all out
  
  What? people just give away computers?

Wedding prep
- I think a lot of people find that stressful, but really you get to tailor a big party that includes all of the closest people in your life to see you celebrate love
  
  I'm more excited for the future after the wedding, to be honest, haha. It's just most fun to be in the moment right now is all.

What’s bringing me joy ? When I go back home after a day of work and my daughters (7y) run towards me with a real smile. Knowing that she is really happy to see me.
- Aw man, that's the best stuff, isn't it

I'm teaching guitar to a couple of students in town. I've started doing an active listening at the end of our shared class. I'm introducing them to all kinds of music they haven't heard and I love it. They're responding and listening to some new albums outside of the genres they've liked.
Thank you for the opportunity to share some good. :)
- That's awesome, I used to teach guitar, and I wish I had thought of that as an idea for incorporating into a lesson.

My wife
- A good life partner really makes it all easier imo
  
  For sure. I certainly think i have lucked out with her, knowing how little of an idea I had about almost anything when i got married:D

I have about 2 months left of college (Canada). Going to be graduating with about a 3.9GPA. Finally going to have a degree to my name and hopefully going to be having a job right away when im finished.
- Congratulations, I hope you find gainful employment swiftly!

The bees. All our hives made it through winter and a fairly mild spring so far has given them a boost. Queens are laying like crazy, workers are working hard.
I've started wearing very thin gloves while inspecting the hives after realising that they make it less likely I'll be stung, because I can be gentler. A bonus is that I can feel the warmth of the bees, and that really does bring me joy.
- omg you'll be among the saviors of the world, given the way bees are going according to the news.
- This is so cool, especially the bee warmth, I never thought of them putting off much heat, but I imagine with enough of them they would!

I have friends and a family who care about me, and I've been listening to one of my new favorite podcasts, "You're Wrong About".
That's about all that's getting me through life right now.

Hi all,
I have enjoyed all of the replies in this thread, and it has brought me happiness to read about yours.
I also recognize that not everyone is feeling joy right now, and that's ok too, life is not always fun to live, sometimes it's downright brutal. If you're going through a time like that, I wish you the best in getting through it, there are few forces stronger than the power of the human will.
I think there are a few main themes here in the replies that seem to be spirit boosters, and let's be honest none of these are unexpected, but I think it can be nice to have a reminder of what's good.
In no particular order :
Pets
Family
Friends
Children
Partners
Accomplishments
Projects
Art
Hobbies
Freedom
Teaching
Health
Now I don't think you need to have every one of these things in your life to truly be happy, but if you're feeling like nothing is bringing you joy, maybe one of these things might.
I think most importantly, gratitude is the attitude, if something is making your life better, taking a second to recognize it can make it feel even better. If someone is bringing you joy, make sure they know it deep down in their soul ❤️

Sobriety. 2 years 3 months since I've drank.
Still relearning some aspects of being an adult. Figuring out who I am. Picking up old hobbies again and trying new ones. So many things bring me joy nowadays where it used to only be alcohol that triggered the ol happy brain chemicals.
I'm in a much better place than I was a couple years ago when I was abusing alcohol as a coping mechanism.
- Dude, you and me quit at almost the same time!
  
  Nice! Congrats my dude. Would've been closer to the same day but someone gave me a bottle of whiskey for Christmas that year and I hadn't told anyone I was trying to quit yet
- Hell ya, I'm a teetotaler myself. Nothing like sobriety over the long term, keep up the good work!
- Oh hell yeah congrats! I dated an ex alcoholic (very close to dying) and his thing now is running, eating ultra efficient nutrients like honey and liver, and not using soap ever for anything. He's one of the happiest guys I've seen in a long long time. Though, he does preach a bit, I can understand his zeal hahaha
  
  Thanks :) I don't really talk about my sobriety with a ton of people in person, still some shame associated with who I used to be, appreciate being able to share online.
  And yea exercise in various forms is one of my big things now, definitely relatable, I try not to be preachy about it. Lifting, swimming, and rollerblading recently. I need to do more yoga though... I'm in wayyyy better shape than I was two years ago, feeling almost as good as my college athlete days.

The possiblities. The potential. Recently I have overcome my trauma and I have energy to spare on doing things I want to do.
- Yes, this is a great outlook, you can do anything!
  
  Not really anything but I can do valuable and meaningful stuff.

I have a ticket out of the US
- Sounds great! Me too 😌
- Cool, where you headed? (if you're open to sharing)

I’m working on a project that’s really important to me - and I think that there’s a good chance I’ll see it through to completion at this point.
Admittedly, outside of that project… my life has not really been doing much for me lately. I’m glad to have something right now that’s helping keep me stable and sane in a world that really feels like it’s falling apart, but sometimes it really feels like I’m working to finish it and get it out there before life becomes a bit too much.
- What's the project?
  
  I’ve been working on archiving/restoring material from an unpublished musical that was written in the 1980s, the playwright who originally wrote it passed away and was never able to publish it. It’s a sci-fi show that got a disturbing amount of things right about the world now (for example, there’s a song about being kept up at night staring at a screen and falling into existentialism - aka doomscrolling. The link is the playwright singing so it’s not nearly as strong singing as the demo but it gives an idea), and it all resonated with me deeply when I first read through the material.
  We’ve been able to transcribe by ear most of the music, and recover the other music projects from floppy drives, while recreating the synth patches he used. I’ve even been interviewing cast members who were part of the show when it was being workshopped, to get a better picture of where everything fits in the show’s history. My hope is that maybe by the time I’m done it’ll be in a state where it’s more likely to be picked up and produced one day - because before I got to it it was very disparate and kind of scattered across a lot of different folders without much context.

Post surgery sick leave. My body is still a bit fucked but it's also the most time off I've had in one go in years.
- Rest well and I hope you make a full recovery and enjoy this time of peace in your life
  
  Thank you!

I've got a great Plexi sound from my Helix and Les Paul for playing Led Zeppelin numbers.

I think I've done a reasonable job improving my dovetail jig.
That 12 inch Porter Cable model; it has some problems with repeatability. The reference marks are quite wide and positioned in a way to give a lot of parallax error. There was no real way to quantify how far you've moved the template in and out, which meant it's basically guaranteed to come out of alignment. So I took a knife to it. Scribed the alignment line around all the tines and put graduation marks on the brass thumb wheels. It's a lot easier to be deliberate in adjusting this thing now.
It still needs a few other things here and there, and I need to put those alignment marks on other templates. But it's a start.
- That's awesome! Dovetails a plenty in your future!
  
  And here are some using my new "dial it in" method. Cut a test, measured how far off it was, adjusted the template that far and it's done, no guess-and-check-oops-too-far.

I live in the US, and with the state of things I have decided to make my life more analog and disconnected this year, and for the foreseeable future. Instead of online games, I do puzzles and listen to audiobooks. Instead of doom scrolling for hours, I've decided I'm going to start backpacking. Instead of watching so much TV, I've been reading more.
All of these things are helping bring me peace. I've been pack training with my dog, which means doing longer day hikes with a heavy pack for each of us, and it's just been so nice. I'm losing weight without trying (which is a good thing as I'm overweight), I'm seeing parts of my area I've never seen, and spending fantastic quality time with my dog. This weekend we're doing a shakedown car camp to see how he does in my smaller backpacking tent and I am SO excited. In 3 weeks we go on our first backpacking trip with a friend, and I'm already dreaming of future trips. All of this is huge for us because I'm allergic to the sun (literally) and he (my dog) is very sensitive to heat, and allergic to wasps (we have to carry epipens for him) so deciding to spend time outdoors has taken a lot of consideration, determination and planning, but we're doing it. I'm so excited for the adventures we'll have, I can't even put my emotions into words.

Sunlight, food, my handsome partner, orgasms, music from my past, sleep, my cat, socializing while playing videogames, the knowledge that I'm improving my physical state, angry validation from other queers, peace and quiet, masturbation, porn, drugs, knowledge in general, good anime, the long healthy grass I can see from my window, drinking cool clean fresh water, the filthiest queer poly cnc abo smut i can find, the degoogle tech movement, the anti-facist movement in paris, luigi followers, star trek, ice cream, gw2, making music, carbonated beverages, getting better at things, seeing pictures of myself in threesomes, looking forwards to good things :) in the future, being lusted after, being loved, feeling love for others, trying to find my people, learning about myself, meditation, the fediverse and being able to speak relatively freely again, living in a liberal area, knowledge that I live in a liberal area and don't have to fear as much, cozy outfits, cuddling, piracy, helping make technology that I believe is ethically good, seeing people that also want to do good in the world and have a spine about it,
Yeah that's all I've got for now.. basically it circles around setting the good things in life, no matter how small, and also appreciating the few objectively nice things I do have in life, like a loving partner and my functioning senses.
- I'm glad you have so much going on to appreciate, sounds like you've got it made in the shade!
  
  Lol i really don't, trust me

Getting together with my friends online a couple times a week to play R.E.P.O.. I've been going through a rough patch with my fiance recently and being able to get out of my head and sneak around haunted houses has been really helpful
- Gaming with the pals, one of the great pleasures in life, I'm glad you have that going for you!
- You gotta play hard to work hard, and work hard to play hard. Life is about balance. If you take loans out from your future, you still have to repay them. Always invest in yourself. I'm in a similar place as you, though not relationship wise, and I find the more I'm able to let go and carelessly lean into my actual interests, the better I feel. Weird how that works huh lol

Thunder, lightening, the sound of rain on my window.
- Love a nice storm, so relaxing in a way

… not much.
My romantic life is painful and turbulent at best. My job is collapsing because of the tariffs. I owe too much on my car to keep it if I lose my job and it needs a new clutch anyways, which is about $3000 that I don’t have for the cheap one. Family is distant, cold, and unsupportive. My government is doing its best to make life (as a trans person) as painful as possible. Best friend died last year, my only other friend has just kinda fallen off the face of the earth. My hobbies are frustrating and unfulfilling. I have vivid nightmares nightly. My body is deteriorating to the point of near disability. I eat the same shitty $5 chicken sandwhich every day. Insurance won’t cover therapy and suicide seems more and more likely by the day.
My coffee was warm this morning though so, I guess I’ve got that going for me today.
- Damn, that's all so very heavy. Honestly, I wish I had prefaced this post in some way, because the truth of the matter is that not everyone is feeling happiness these days. I'm really sorry, especially for the persecution trans people are experiencing, y'all unequivocally do not deserve any of that. I hope things improve, and that you're able to find peace, safety, and meaningful happiness in your life, you deserve it ❤️

I’m very happy to be a land owner. Just a few months ago I bought some land and now live in an RV on the land. Tomorrow we drive about 7 hours round trip and get the last of our stuff from storage. So happy to not pay that rent anymore.
We have fresh air, beautiful views, and tons of space to work on projects, free electric from solar, and soon free water from rain. I can’t wait to start our garden soon, then it will be free groceries.
- Living the absolute dream, that sounds like an amazing new venture and I wish you well in all of your future projects
- Damn. Amazing. Are you in the States? What's your latitude/geography like? Do you have a water source, as well as electricity?
  
  We are in Arizona, high elevation so it’s not as hot as the big cities. (Over 5,000 ft)
  We want to order water delivery first, then collect rain water after we build a roof over the RV.
  We have solar and it’s been enough for us so far, but I know when it rains during monsoon season that I may need a generator.

Cycling now that the weather's warmer. My family and pets. Coffee and word games.
Thanks for the reminder to look for the good. I often feel like there should be so much more, but I know that's more than some people have, so I should feel lucky.
- My pleasure, it's actually brought me great joy to read about everyone else's slices of happiness 🙂

Is this a trick question?
- It depends on the reader I suppose, but I meant it in ernest

My kids. Not much else though.
- Gotta love the kids, I made this post after getting my youngest to bed and having my heart feel so full of love
  
  Thank you for this thread. I'm a little misty-eyed and feeling so wonderfully blessed. Pumpkin Tikka masala and coffee for breakfast (I know, right?!), mixed greens, tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, mozzarella with good balsamic vinegar for lunch, for the time in months, I made a half-gallon of iced tea, sweetened with local raw honey, fur baby sleeping next to me as I enjoy the sound of the storm, outside. So many have no meal, no roof, no companion. It's nice reading the simple pleasures here. No one mentioned their private jet, Bugatti, haute coture. It's nice when we recognize the real riches life grants us.
- Ha. My kids is the best AND worst part of my life 😆

If everything goes according to plan, I'm moving to Europe.
- That's so cool!!
  
  It's gonna be!
- Which country do you plan to move to?
  
  France

I am about to get married =)
- Congratulations to you, I hope you have a lovely day and life together ❤️

That all of my recent health issues the last 3 months were temporary.
- GOOD. You need your health, and I find it's the uncertainty that can be so stressful

This instant? PBS Kids.
- Love pbs, whatcha got going?
  
  I have no idea. Something called "Milo"?
  It's just nice to be able to put something on that's innocent and childlike. There isn't much like that around.
  It's gentle.

I'm a month away from completing my union electrician apprenticeship. It's been a lot of work, and there is plenty more to come. But after five years of working towards something, it'll be nice to reach a big milestone.
- Congrats! I rememeber finishing mine and it was a lot of work. Just remember to take care of your body and especially your ears! My body has started to hurt in my wrists from all marrets and wire twisting
  
  Yeah very good advice. I see guys in their 50s that have never stretched or eaten too well. Even walking looks painful for them. Not much we can do about our wrists though!
- Well done, that's a hell of an accomplishment that will set you up for life, world will always need sparkies

Partner and kitties. When they (kitties) aren't screaming at me while I'm on the phone for work while wfh. So fucking rude. That's sarcasm. No one seems able to infer it anymore.
- Cats are brats but too cute so they can get away with whatever

I'm really struggling but actually doing extremely well, all things considered. We've had a hostile takeover so even if I keep my job, it really feels like it's going to shit. My garage was broken into and my bikes nicked or damaged - that really sucks bug moreso because is my main hobby, exercise and coping mechanism :(
I'm hoping I can order a new mountain bike with a gearbox, so that'll be really exciting - but it's ages away at best.
The reality is my family love me and I'm successful, so in real terms, things are good - but I really need to work on my imposter syndrome and inner accuser!
- That does sound stressful, and I'd be pissed if anyone fucked with my garage, that is a sacred space! Sounds like you've got your priorities in order though, keep on rockin!

I'm aware that it makes people cringe, but it's so true that I've never been more happy; more bottoms than a top could ever ask for... Enough to over come the negativety from all the judgemental or bitter queens.
- Stoked for you, and Iove that description ❤️
  
  Not more stoked than I; I've never had a busier social life and my asocially autistic ass is still surprised by it each time I get another invite.
- Super happy for you and wishing you lots more happy years ahead! ❤️
- I'm not a top, but I know that feeling, and it's amazing. That was my entire year last year. It was so freeing and empowering. Don't do things that harm the sustainability of that like meth or smoking. Keep your health up and keep drinking water and hygiene. Take care of yourself and you'll just continue to get more and more powerful :)
  
  I never thought of it as powerful before and I like it! Lol

Factorio!
- The factory must grow!
- I've not played it, but I've seen it mentioned often enough to think I should probably give it a whirl
  
  Yes do it! 😈

lol
- What is a better expression of happiness than laughing out loud?

Right this very second, my chicken preening herself next to me, occasionally pausing to make sure I see her preening herself so that I continue to sweetly praise her
- Good chicken! What a pretty and fancy chicken...
- That is adorable

The closest friend i made since moving abroad alone 2 years ago, changed their mind and they are not moving out of the city. Also, two of my favorite bands put out killer new albums that fit the eternal combo of coffee+tobacco really well
- What is life without good friends and music? I'm glad you have both of things bringing you joy right now.

I was able to revive my old PlayStation 2 thanks to Hacks and Homebrew and I'm replaying several games from my childhood apart from playing several others that I couldn't at the time, and I'm having a wonderful time.
- I discovered pcsx2 (ps2 emulator) a week ago and have been playing granturismo 4, so happy!
  
  Pcsx2 is the best it can be nowadays. I remember using it years ago and how difficult it was to configure it, but now it runs like silk even on outdated hardware like my PC, I don't know what black magic the team behind it did. After the original hardware, pcsx2 it's the best option to play the Ps2 gems.
- I'm interested in knowing the titles you're playing, if you care to list them.
  
  Oh the list of all the games is veeeeery looooong, like 70 games, but my current favorite that I couldn't play in the day are:
  Psychonauts
  Zone of The Enders
  Yakuza
  The Simpsons Hit & Run
  Downhill Domination (this game is Rad as hell!!)
  While some that I'm replaying because they are really REALLY good are:
  Devil May Cry 3
  Soul Calibur 3
  Lego Batman
  Sonic Megacollection plus
- Hell ya, got deep into the wii / wii u homebrew stuff for a while. I completely missed the PS2 and really that whole generation of gaming growing up. What are you playing?
  
  I'm currently playing Psychonauts and Downhill Domination (This game is so cool omg).

My cat has been extra cuddly lately. Earlier she slept in my arms using one as a pillow.
- Cats rule ❤️

I made a shit tonne of brownies and ive had 2 cups of sugar in one day alongside 5 cups of coffee. WHAT A DAY TO BE ALIVE
PS. Folks add pomegranate molasses to your pantry and your brownies. One of my favourite ingredients to give a dish complex depth in flavour, works with sweet and savory.
- You should also try date molasses. You can find it at basically any Arab market.
- Sugar for all its supposed evils really does bring me daily joy

Right now, I'm working a ton (72 hours per week) and my wife is working and going back to school, but every Tuesday is an entire day together. We just started playing Baldur's Gate 3 for the first time, and we look forward to it all damn week lol. We started like a month ago, but we're still only just now wrapping up the goblin camp. We both were already really familiar with 5e DnD, so a lot of the mechanics feel pretty intuitive to us. I have gripes with the camera (PS5 version) but overall it's a fantastic experience.
Before picking this up on sale, we were passing the controller back and forth through Astro bot. Also amazing! We rolled credits, and I'll probably aim for the platinum trophy at some point without her. There's truly not much left before we snag that, so she's not missing out.
- That's really sweet that you guys get that time together and share that common experience. I played through BG3 over the past year with a group of buddies and we had some great laughs fucking around, truly such a fun time.

Love my kids, love my wife. Feel useful at work. Getting rdy for the final stretch of my undergrad. Life is a grind atm and I don't have a lot of free time, but I wouldn't swap it for anything else.
- I'm in the same boat, I feel like I've never been busier or more stressed at times, but it all feels so worth it for all the good things going on simultaneously

Seeing Jason probably
- Nice!

My dirt bike
- just got the engine done (for a bit of extra power) on my street bike.
  a whole lot of fun with a dash of killmyself danger. pretty fun.
- Hell ya 😎

My family. I feel really good that I can trust and rely on my parents, that I can talk to my brother, that I have my grandma close and still healthy. It's a privilege to be related to these people, to be honest.
- Can't choose who you're related to, so ya, it is a great privilege when you're surrounded by good people and you have that network of folks you love and can rely on

Playing X4, despite the crashes.
But to be really honest, giving drawing lessons to 9-11yo kids. Something I never considered doing in my life, but damn does it make me feel good, though the kids' progress (or lack thereof) often leaves me wondering if I'm actually being any good
- That sounds like rewarding work. I feel like even if they're not progressing that fast, just having a positive role model in their life is probably really meaningful
- whaat x4 looks like modern tachyon: the fringe.
  how did i never hear about this game before
  
  X4 is a very complex game. You start as a relative nobody in space, but can earn money to create big mining and trading fleets to get more money while you're busy with other stuff, finally using said money to buy military fleets.
  It's full of eurojank, it's a huge time sink (I'm a bit over 100h now), but it may be the kind of thing that tickles your neurons just right.

The fact that this all is going to end sooner or later.
- Ya, sometimes life can feel so overwhelming and I long for death, not in like a suicidal way, but just like the absence of the stress of everything