stand on any sweltering street corner of Brooklyn in July and something becomes really clear:
people are edgy.
maybe it’s the steam that rises from subway grates. or maybe the smell of black trash bags baking in the summer sun. if you study their faces, no one appears to be in a good mood.
sometimes our moods are handed to us. like when the morning news is hopeful, or someone says they like our sneakers. that’s when a good mood feels like a gift.
but there’s also a lot we can do to improve our mood. the stuff we stream, what we eat, our daily rituals, the people we hang out with – it’s all a choice.
and so maybe we can get better at it.
I was knocked out by COVID the past two weeks. I have had it four times now. the research shows that substance use and SUD are associated with an increased risk for developing it and can lead to worse health outcomes, like lung, heart and brain complications. I was checked out and seem to be okay.
but because I was sick I couldn’t go to group, or the memory center, or work, or play music or do much of anything else that keeps me together, and that was the hardest thing. all I felt the past two weeks was lonely, and anxious, and depressed. all of these things increase risk of substance abuse.
today is my first day back and moving around in the world. if I accomplish anything good today, it’s going to be helping myself change the way I see it. I’m going to work hard at getting myself in the mood to do the things I already know how to do that keep me going.
cookie nieves 
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