coping skills and... muffins?

I'm a fan of coping skills.

Well, let me be more specific... I'm a fan of healthy coping skills.

Healthy coping skills not only help us deal, they are the things that COMFORT us and remind us we are glad to be alive.

So the healthy things that you use to cope may not be the same as me and vice versa.

Of course, some coping skills are pretty universal, like laughter.

One thing I find myself doing to cope is cook and bake. After a bit of an intense work week including a lot of overnight shifts I woke up today with a bad tension headache and grumpy mood. Before I realized what was happening I was in the kitchen baking up a bunch of muffins for friends.

And while my poppy seed muffins decided to become superglued to the muffin tins and my chocolate muffins decided to rise twice what I thought they would, I felt comfort from being in the kitchen baking for folks. Sure, it wasn't an hour massage (ha!) but it did improve my mood.

So that is one of my random coping skills.

What healthy coping skills do use to bring yourself comfort and joy?