Like a lot of folks on Tumblr, I like Hayao Miyazaki’s creations.

As you might have noticed, I’ve been having the same ups and downs as everyone else during quarantine. As part of recovering from the last down my therapist has made me promise to ‘be gentle with myself.’ Apparently I hold myself to too high a standard or whatever. Nonsense.

So naturally I’ve been turning to Studio Ghibli for inspiration, because nothing captures a gentle daily life like a Miyazaki film.

They’re even deliberately designed that way! There are oodles of articles about how Miyazaki is all about finding joy in the small things and falling in love with regular life and how it ties into Shinto and all sorts of wonderful things.

in addition to using Ghibli film soundtracks as my day-to-day music, I’m also doing my best to find–and make–small happinesses in my surroundings. I drink a lot of tea. I’m learning to mend stuff because it makes me happy and I get to keep my favorite clothes for longer. I’m making tiny waffles! I’m writing lots of letters to friends to tell them I’m thinking of them. My entertainment choices are gentle things–GBBO and its ilk.

I’m also writing in general, of course, but write now it’s feeling more important to do this self-care thing and since I’m not beating myself up for it, I figure I’ll keep it up for as long as it feels necessary. The world is big and scary and I am very small, but gosh darnit I’m going to make my small corner nice.

I hope y’all are taking care of and being gentle with yourselves too! And if you’ve got a favorite small nice thing, tell me about it!