How you play your hand...

It's been a long time since my last post and in all honesty I have had a fair few ups and downs over the last 3 months or so...I could feel at my very best one minute and next I can be fighting away the demons that have consumed me for so long. The good news is I have been having weekly Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and I am learning how to deal with those demons. It is becoming much easier to shoo them away these days!

Today I have the urge to post because this weekend I experienced some true positivity and a fantastic time with good friends.

This weekend I visited Secret Cinema. My gosh, what an absolutely incredibly experience. If you have no idea what this entails I will do my best to explain and will urge you to so a bit of googling yourself. Secret Cinema is an immersive Cinema experience like no other. It is not just playing a film for your enjoyment, it is getting utterly consumed by the film, taken on a journey like no other and at the end of the night walking away with a feeling of euphoria and joy and feeling like you were in a dream the whole time. The company is currently showing Romeo and Juliet, you have no idea where you will be going (apart from being told the closest London tube station where you are directed to the venue!), you are given specific characters, you are asked to bring certain items and dress certain ways (#montaguesforever) and get utterly into the role. Obviously the story of Romeo and Juliet revolves around the rival gangs, the Montagues and the Capulets and you are told you are attending to bring Peace to both houses. One of the ways you are asked to do this is to bring a peace offering to give to the rival gang. I was stumped! I had no idea what I would take and the day before we attended I was wandering around our local Supermarket with Mr.A trying to gain some kind of inspiration when it hit me...I dedicate myself daily to spreading a positive message across social media through my Instagram page, why couldn't I move this into physical form. As luck would had it I had an unused pack of playing cards, and crouched on the living room floor armed with a sharpie, I wrote out 52 positive and uplifting messages along with my Instagram handle @kimsdailydoseofpositivity on the back of each card. It felt good! (Apart from the small blue sharpie smudge on the living room floor which I have desperately tried to get off, MrA hasn't yet noticed so any tips on removing sharpie would be much appreciated. Whoops!).

On Saturday, we traveled to Acton in West London, we got suitably dressed up and covered ourselves head to toe in blue (The colour of the Montagues), I placed some of my playing cards in MrA's pocket and some in my bag and we headed off to an awesome night. During the evening came the time to hand out the peace offerings and as I had just got out of a queue for a Mac&Cheese food van (seriously, YUM!) I went along the queue and gave my cards to any Capulet in sight! The idea of spreading the word just filled me with so much happiness, and I got a little bunch of 3 roses in return, a perfect amount for me to share with my girls!

At the end of the evening we headed back to our rented apartments where I distributed my remaining cards through the apartment letter boxes, hopefully giving someone a little joy instead of having to open yet another bill!!

The next day me and MrA started a very long and tiresome journey back home. A long underground ride across the city, an overground train and then faced with the prospect of a dreaded rail replacement double decker bus, driving at approximately 17.8mph the entire way home and with a driver that was not familiar with the routes and being directed by the fellow passengers...by this time me and MrA were a slightly hysterical pair and finding everything quite hilarious. We were in group chats with our friends, all on different parts of the journey, sending snapshots of our travels and reminiscing about the previous night and at this point I was reminded of my positivity cards. MrA had not got rid of all of his yet and I had stashed them back into my bag. I reached in and pulled one out at random, and it was perfect for the situation we found ourselves in, tucking it into a gap in the handrail, I left it for the next person experiencing a similar journey on a Sunday afternoon, and soon we left the bus and made our way home...detouring past the shop so I could get myself a packet of smarties!

3 hours later I was deep within a standard Sunday routine, laying on the sofa watching The best exotic marigold hotel on Film4 and I glanced down at my phone to be surprised with a comment on an Instagram post and a new follower. My card on the bus had been found, had bought joy and had later been left at another location.

This message in itself has uplifted me a ridiculous amount, has reminded me of what small random acts of kindness can do and has inspired me to carry on this movement. I have since ordered more packs of cards and a personalised rubber stamp (to save my achey hand, my sharpie pens and my living room floor) and soon the cards will keep going.

Please do look out for these positivity cards. They may take some time to make it round and I understand that many will end up in the bin (recycling if anything please people!), but if you do find them, do feel free to shout out on Instagram and let me know how far it's got....

Keep it, for times when you most need it.

Pass it on to someone who needs uplifting and could do with the kind word.

Anonymously leave it somewhere, use it as your own random act of kindness, someone who picks it up could be looking for a message to keep going!

A positive comment can go a long way (and can even go viral apparently!), and believe me, spreading those vibes can not just do wonders for a total strangers mental health, but can have such an amazing effect on your own.

Right now i'm on a high.....and I don;t think I will be coming down any time soon.

xx