With a little help from my friends

We all need a little help to feel good sometimes.

But define “good”? There are so many ways to feel “good”, but depending on your mood one method may satisfy more than another. I have three friends that I turn to to make me feel three different kinds of “good”.

The Sappy One

A photograph from my childhood

This is me. I think I was 4.

It may look like I was smiling for the camera but I was, in fact, balling my eyes out crying.

I was crying because I was stuck in the tree.

I was always a daddy’s girl. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my mum, but dad was my hero.

They had very different parenting styles, my parents.

My mum wanted to swaddle me up and never let the light of the big, scary world touch my delicate little face.

But my dad let me roll in mud and get twigs in my hair and scratches on my knees. He let me jump from things that were too high and keep spiders as pets.

But sometimes I would bite off a bit more than I could chew, resulting in me getting stuck in trees.

I can remember this day quite vividly actually, it was at the Royal Botanical Gardens for some engagement party or birthday or something-or-other, and quite frankly it was a terrible day for me all round: I was bitten by a swan and then promptly fell in the pond from shock, and to top it all off, got stuck in a bloody tree.

Looking back though, the terrible things never really matter, do they?

This photo makes me laugh every time I see it because you can tell my dad is pissing himself laughing while simultaneously trying to reassure me and get me down, and my mother has taken a break from being her normal, overprotective self, and decided to take a picture instead.

The Silly One

Juno Birch

This. Woman. Is. Incredible.

Juno Birch is a drag performer from Manchester, UK, but she is so much more than that.

She’s a trans-activist, she sculpts, she’s aesthetically pleasing to look at, hilarious and she does a mean Jennifer Coolidge impersonation. What can’t she do?

Juno describes herself as a glamorous alien woman who crash-landed on earth in 1962 has been, clumsily, trying to blend in ever since.

Her Instagram is constantly filled with odd videos of this alien woman going shopping for human groceries, screaming at succulents and dressing up as a cow (but make it glamourous).

She recently began a YouTube series of her creating and playing completely absurd characters on The Sims, a seemingly mundane concept but her sense of humour is so strange and wicked that you’re completely engaged the entire time (plus, I can’t help but love a Scouse accent).

Her bright pastels (is that an oxymoron?) are energising yet calming at the same time, the plastic aesthetic like a barbie doll from outer space is mesmerising and honestly I could watch her for hours.

What’s not to love?

P.S I am currently saving up for one of her sculptures.

The Satirical One

The Dollop Podcast

The world is a pretty fucked up place right now as I am sure we are all aware, but would it shock you to learn that the world has ALWAYS been pretty fucked up? I thought I knew - but now I really know.

The Dollop is a history podcast run by comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds (and occasionally a guest). Dave reads Gareth a crazy, bizarre or simply disgusting saga from an obscure point in history, and in that material the two find endless jumping-off points for comedic characters, mini-sketches and all manner of snide remarks. The result is hilarious yet informative.

In a world completely over-saturated with content, too much for any person to consume in one lifetime, being able to learn while I laugh makes me feel like I’m being somewhat constructive with my free time (and, let’s be honest, perhaps gives me a little sense of superiority too).

On days when it seems like the world couldn’t get any more weird or terrible, it can be a comfort to know that it has in fact BEEN much, much, much, much, much, more truly, grotesquely weird and terrible, and we’re still here ain’t we?!

Be aware however, this podcast is not for the faint hearted, and listening to it too much may cause an unhealthy amount of cynicism, in which case the cure is to go visit your sappy friend and you silly friend.

That being said, this podcast is an absolute staple of my life, in fact I listen to two, that’s right TWO, episodes a day! (One on my bike ride in to work and one on my bike ride home).

Balance Is Key

I think it is important to see all my friends pretty evenly, I don’t want to become too sappy, or silly or satirical, but balancing the three together makes me feel well-rounded and steady, makes me feel “good”. I hope they make you feel that way too.