Managing Aunt Flo With Things Make Me Happy
On managing Aunt Flo's monthly visit and my mental health
Hi y’all. Hope your September is starting out well, or at least decently.
I am currently dealing with my monthly visit from Aunt Flo, who decided to come early again. When Aunt Flo comes around, she makes me moody and irritable for about a week. In order to manage my mental health during my time of the month, I try to do whatever I can to relax myself and improve my mood.
Some examples:
Gaming- I played several rounds of the mobile card game Marvel Snap this morning. Winning enough rounds lifted my mood so that losing didn’t bother me. Fulfilling missions for the Marvel Snap alliance that I’m in also reminded me of some of my internet friends, my fellow writers at the comic book criticism website Comics XF. Back in August, I wrote a heartfelt Comics XF essay on how getting back into Marvel Snap this summer brought me closer to the Comics XF community.
Comfort Films- These are movies I tend to rewatch in order to feel better, not just during Aunt Flo’s visit but whenever I’m feeling bad. Some of my favorites are Yu-Gi-Oh! Bonds Beyond Time, Spider-Man Into The Spiderverse, Jumanji Welcome To The Jungle, and the 1997 Cinderella movie featuring Brandy and Whitney Houston.
Music- I don’t have a particular album that I listen to during Aunt Flo’s visit, but music overall helps me manage manage my mental health. For a positive and relaxing pick me up, I usually do jazz music such as Sapphire’s Velvet Lounge EPs (featuring Persona game music covers) or vocalists such as Samara Joy. Speaking of Samara Joy, she recently released a great new studio recording of the jazz standard "You Stepped Out Of A Dream”.
Anyway, I hope y’all are doing okay and hanging in there. See y’all next time.
P.S. If you are a free subscriber and would like to support me with a one-time monetary donation instead of upgrading to a monthly paid subscription, you can now donate to my Ko-fi page in the link below.