TL;DR: Turned into a raccoon-looking, frog-sounding misery-magnet thanks to the cold of all colds. If I started a band now, I'd be on cough percussion. Decided to list things that spark joy amid my snot misery. 

Hello my lovelies! It's Lev! Alright, so here's the deal. I've come down with the coldest of colds (at least in my melodramatic teenage experience). I'm talking about an orchestra of sneezes, a relentless cough that would make a professional opera singer weep in despair. For a girl who usually has a lot to say (and, uh, quite a lot of volume to say it with), this is certainly a strange and somewhat humbling experience.

Yep, your girl's caught a cold. I sound like a dying frog and look like a raccoon with my runny mascara and nose to match.

Faced with the ceaseless coughing (I swear, I could play percussion in a jazz band with this rhythm), I thought I'd keep my brain entertained and do something a bit different. So, I decided to write a list of my favorite things that make me happy and keep my sanity intact in this time of trial.

Item Number 1: Feeling shivers go down your spine as you hear your favorite song being played somewhere random.

Like, isn't that just magic? You're minding your own business, maybe at the supermarket deliberating between crunchy or creamy peanut butter, and suddenly you hear those familiar chords drifting from the speakers overhead. And just like that, your day gets a hundred times better. The peanut butter quandary? Forgotten. Your cold? Temporarily pushed aside.

Item Number 2: Passing an exam that you thought you totally flunked.

The moment when you get your paper back, expecting the worst and then… BAM! You’ve actually passed! Yknow, the kind where you're convinced that your answer sheet was an abstract work of art, and your 'well-articulated' answers were more hieroglyphics than English. But then the grades come in, and voila, you've passed! A moment of silence for our fallen comrades, the brain cells we lost in the process. It's the academic equivalent of finding a twenty-dollar bill in your old jeans, and the joy, my friends, is real.

Item Number 3: Being told that the things I make and my thoughts are interesting and fun.

As someone who usually has a wild assortment of thoughts and ideas, bouncing around my brain like hyperactive squirrels, I am delighted when someone finds them intriguing. It’s like the validation stamp on my 'Crazy But Fun' passport. Now, as an artsy teenager, there's something incredibly heartwarming about having people genuinely interested in your creations and ideas. It's one thing to be told that your work is "nice" - that's like being told you have good handwriting. But when someone tells you your work is interesting or fun, you know they're not just blowing smoke. It's the same feeling you get when people see you as smart, and let me tell you, that’s a pretty delicious feeling.

The list, of course, doesn't end there. We've got late-night chats that I have with my friends - a mix of profound life debates, cheesy jokes, and bizarre hypotheticals (What if our eyebrows were sentient?). The smell of freshly baked cookies wafting from the oven or the pages of a new book (don't judge, we all have our quirks).

Being happy when you're sick is a task akin to trying to lick your elbow (seriously, try it, it's impossible). But, as I cough for the hundredth time today and stack up my throat-soothing candy wrappers, I realise that it's these small moments, these silver linings that make everything a little less blue and a bit more rainbow-y.

So there you have it! My personal happiness boosters. A teenager's survival guide to combat the sniffle season (and all the other weird seasons of life). Now, if you’ll excuse me, my throat seems to be playing a symphony, and I need to get another cup of hot tea.

Keep coughing up joy, my friends! :)