Sometimes, it’s hard to think about how to make it through the day. I’ve had my moments where I thought the world would be better without me.

I’m lucky to no longer have those thoughts play around in my mind as they did back then.

I’m not going to say that my life is perfect now, but I will say that it has gotten better. I have a better understanding of what kind of solution I was thinking about and how it really just makes things worse.

It’s not over. This world needs you and things can get better, but not without you in it.

Hemispheric Views had another great episode of their podcast. This one was about the perfect album. Defining perfect as an album that you can listen to without skipping tracks and just enjoying. Since the initial release of the podcast, people have been blogging about what they feel is good.

I’ve thought about a couple albums but one that comes to mind right now is Louden Up Now by !!!. I bought this album while I was in college on a whim and I find myself putting it on when I’m feeling particular angsty or frustrated.

It is ** extremely explicit ** and puts my frustration into words with a beat. But, after the album is over, the anger is disrupted and I feel like I can move on.

Of course, sometimes I just feel like listening to Pardon My Freedom on repeat and letting the world just float on by.

But I feel that it’s the other tracks that jostle me out of that feeling as it becomes a little absurd with the lyrics and the beats are just erratic enough to shake me out of a funk.

It took me a while to find other information about this group online because I thought they only had one album and the fact that looking up !!! didn’t work in the search engines that I was using because of the wildcard nature of their names.

I highly encourage you to check out the listing of Perfect Albums that Robb Knight put together.

I’ve been thinking about what to write for this day during Mental Health Awareness month.

And, it came to me.

Sometimes we need to take a break.

I am pretty excited by the upcoming mini conference for Micro.blog and the IndieWeb.

Jean has posted the schedule for this year and we even have a guest speaker!

Here is the schedule for Friday, May 17. (All times are Pacific.) Details on the chat channel and door prizes to come! Follow [@camp](https://micro.blog/camp) for updates. 🏕️

• 11:45 Welcome to Micro Camp and overview of the schedule
• 12:00 Conversation about blogging and social media with Christina Warren (find her on Mastodon and Bluesky)
• 1:30 State of the Micro.blog with Manton, Jean, and Vincent; Q&A
• 3:00 Community happy hour on Zoom and announcement of door prize winners

Unfortunately, I might not be able to attend this year as I’m supposed to be in the office and it lands on the end of a sprint.

I wanted to write an article about finding music that you can relax to. I tried finding a couple links to where you can find relaxing music and the first couple pages of my search results were links to hours long videos on YouTube and I didn’t want to link you to music on a streaming service.

I tend to find myself listening to albums that I’ve had for years in order to relax or using an app called Focus@will. I’m still trying to figure it out.

This is the first Monday of Mental Health Awareness month! A lot of my coworkers HATE Monday. For them it’s the hardest part of the week. Some days, I feel the same way.

I try to be grateful as Mondays usually mean that I’m starting the work week and that will lead to a paycheck that will provide for my family and I. But sometimes, I need a little bit extra.

I thought I would do a search and put what I found on these sites that don’t blast you will Cookie popups as soon as you load the page.

10 Mindful Monday Ideas To Improve Your Life

I don’t do number 10 - Posting to Instagram. I tend to do that kind of posting to a chat thread I have with friends or on my blog.

8 Tiny Things I’ve Tried to Make Mondays More Pleasant

The last one is important. It’s ok to feel less than fantastic all the time. As humans, we have our highs and lows.

10 Ways to Make Your Monday Better

My favorite on this list is Prep on Friday. I’ve been attempting to start a new habit where I do an end of day wrap-up. Still working on that.

Hello! You might have missed the news about weblogpomo or missed the first couple of days. Who knows, you might be missing today or tomorrow. You might throw your hands up and say Shucks! I missed it!

But, and this is a secret, it’s ok.

I’m going to give you permission to join us.

Any day is a good day that you can write something on your blog. Because, ultimately, you are the first audience for your writing.

If you’re running out of steam or just having trouble getting those first couple of words down, I’m giving you permission to be imperfect and share that imperfection with the rest of us.

Thank you.