Intense exercise is the biggest help. It makes you feel great but it also helps regulate sleep which in turn helps a lot. Also gardening in general and pets 
8 Likes
I found Inner World Outer World, about 7-8 years ago, and started to incorporate some meditation into my day. Anytime I had a 20 minute wait, I work at it, just to find focus, without my mind running wild like a horse out of the corral.
Late last year, my wife found a Tai chi class, simply a series of slow motion, moves, with deep breathing during the moves, for the exercise aspect, not the martial arts side of it.
She said I would like it, well ok.
I felt really stupid at first, and then, by then end of that first session, breathing deeply, finding your balance, finding and holding my focus on the movements, released so much stress, and it was a far greater work out then I expected.
It’s getting close to our first year of going to class, and it has just an amazing experience for us.
The calm, just washes away, life’s bullshit for me. Never expected to love it, but would endure it for my wife. Who Knew!
4 Likes
Not to oversimplify—I get hit with depression as well—but this is one reason why I like sativa
3 Likes
One of the most rewarding experiences you can have is volunteering at a food kitchen or a food pantry. It can really put things into perspective for you and it’s a great feeling to help others. Some of the people you meet are amazing, they’ve just fallen on hard times. Some have mental issues and have been forgotten about or abandoned by the system. I’d strongly encourage everyone to do it. It’s especially rewarding around the holidays and it’s only a few hours a week. You might be cooking one day, and washing donated clothing the next, but you’ll make a lot of friends and meet some really interesting people.
8 Likes
Growing new food and medical plants or fishing helps me. Used comfrey plant to feed mung beans during flower and the mung beans are continuing to flower and produce more beans. Also use comfrey for my compost bin and will juice the berries to make ice packs for pain.
Dropped some soaked RSC beans into solo cups of soil. Grateful for dispensary weed but itching to grow and see how comfrey accentuates growth of variety of plants.
Yeah, curiosity can keep you moving. Going to cook the mung beans in a Sicilian lentils recipe versus Malaysian samosa. Life continues and dialysis can keep passing the open window.
2 Likes
This is very true. Definitely rewarding and super easy to find volunteer slots during the holidays. We’d do Skid Row during the holidays and never had any issues. Just very grateful people. Towards the end of living out in L.A. it became pretty easy to come across homeless people on your daily trek, so I just started giving the few I encountered daily my leftovers and baking stuff I like to make, but don’t want the calories, to give to them. I’d toss them some joints and buy them some beer. I know it was enabling, but if I was in their shoes I’d want a joint and beer, so I’d do it and enable them. Stuff like that can make you feel better too. Just helping others out and whatnot.
9 Likes
^ This ^
I wholeheartedly concur
Sometimes people just need to feel a bit better
4 Likes
I also want to add: baking artisinal sourdough bread. It’s cheap, delivers an amazing end result, and pairs with so many things. Charcuterie, steak sandwich, butter, butter & honey & sea salt, normal sandwich, etc.
The sourdough aspect brings good gut health.
There was a really good tiktok that said “if you feeling down go eat high quality, freshly baked bread by a body of water” and the new Yorker was like “bet” and angrily got some and found a river and was eating it and then was all “dammit he was right!”
Highly recommend that combo as a pick me up 
5 Likes
So kinda funny thing. I keep gravitating towards a baking with kids book, well because I have a flock of kids, but also because of a bigger curiosity into bread. So maybe I’ll actually give sourdough bread making a go. It’s been awhile since I have tried it.
4 Likes
You won’t regret it. Once you bake your first amazing loaf it’s a huge send feeling. Here is the starter I recommend:
I also bought the like $60, 300 year old starter on Amazon and would say this one (cheaper too) is much better as the dude feeds it twice per day which is more important than the age of the starter.
1 Like
I think it’s @Pawsfodocaws who has a starter he’s proud of and is willing to dehydrate and send out. He has a sourdough thread. Maybe he can help you out. The starter is the key to sourdough for sure.
4 Likes
Thanks for the tag pat yup check out new year new start thread.
I have some @Enjoi802 dm me and I’ll get some to you.
6 Likes
@Pawsfodocaws Are you the one who makes those awesome pizza doughs i remember seeing a thread where someone was cooking Grill oven pizzas with Sourdough they looked awesome
4 Likes
Yup! That’s me man! Just made some pizza dough two days ago for a fam member.
6 Likes