Reasons to be Cheerful
‘My Favourite Girls’ by Andrew Eberlin
The Shayler family created Reasons to be Cheerful as a response to the global pandemic; it emerged from a recognition that as people were disconnected physically from the communities they relied on for support, there was a need for new online communities and fresh ways of reaching out to people. Qigong sessions, weekly ‘communions’ - dial-up gatherings during which diverse speakers found their own reasons to be cheerful - and celebratory blog posts all added up to a supportive, inspiring, and uplifting way of bridging into a ‘new normal’. Team Shayler also produced ‘stuff’; bright, bold, creative stuff. Things that make you smile; things that make you think of good times and happy memories. Things like the Reasons to be Cheerful Annual … and the follow-up ‘Summer Edition’, two copies of which were gifted to us as prizes for a competition. We asked our newsletter readers for words and images that represent their own ‘reasons to be cheerful’. We chose an image by Andrew Eberlin and words by Lexi Earl as the winning entries.
My Reasons to be Cheerful
A chocolate ice cream licked greedily after a swim in the lake
My daughter splashing pegs in her paddling pool … what is it about pegs?
Lavender wafting in the breeze
The blackbird shouting at me from the Mirabelle tree
Eating courgettes every night for a few weeks
The cat lying in the plant pot under the Japanese maple because it is too hot anywhere else
Laundry drying on the line outside in the sun
Blackberries gathered with friends because there are far too many for just us to eat and preserve
The sunflowers tipping over, their heads bent towards the earth
It is a sign of high summer … a sigh, a journey accomplished
Instagram: @lexiearl
