A Drop of Happy

Reboot Mode: Your No-Stress Guide to Getting Fit Again

Journal Prompt: When have you been your worst enemy? What were the circumstances and outcome? Did you learn anything from it?
Entertainment Updates
Cardi B - including older songs (W.A.P and Up) to boost album sales for “Am I the drama”
Damson Idris on press tour for F1 (Brad Pitt movie) and talks of Black Panther
Brandy and Monica are going on The Boy Is Mine tour
Prosecutors in the Diddy Case rest. Jury deliberation to begin
Mahershala Ali still wants Blade (2019), and so do we. He is in Jurassic World: Rebirth
Tiffany Haddish: multiple baby daddy comments
Box Office: How to Train Your Dragon, 28 Years Later
 
We can be so toxic to ourselves. I am trying to be my best friend and treat myself with grace and kindness. That treatment includes how I take care of my body. I would say some of us could improve on how we care for ourselves. Sometimes we need to be better parents to ourselves. We are old enough now to set our guardrails and try to deter ourselves from danger. We are also old enough to allow ourselves to indulge in whatever we want, even if it is to our detriment. Nowhere is that more apparent than in American fitness. 
 
Working out is a wonderful, beautiful thing. The benefits to our body and mind are phenomenal. But the effort it requires is mountainous, especially when it hasn't been a part of your routine in life. However,  moving is detrimental to our quality of life. 
 
In the article Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress, the Mayo Clinic lists 5 benefits that exercise will provide towards stress relief. Again, these are probably things that you have heard or been told before, but repetition will hopefully lead to action, so here goes.
Exercise: 
Pump your endorphins
Cuts down on the negative effects of stress
Is meditation in motion
Improves your mood.
And, throwing in my own contribution to this list, if done right, can contribute to eliciting the relaxation response as well. 
 
Now, on the flip side, a sedentary lifestyle is the kiss of death. I know that sounds quite dramatic, but it’s completely intentional. It needs to be taken seriously. 
 
A sedentary lifestyle is what a lot of us can easily fall into because we might be trying to keep up with life’s ups and downs, and when we get a breather, we just want to rest. However, there is a big difference between resting and consistently not moving. It is spending a lot of time on your butt. It’s a lifestyle in which we hardly engage in physical activity. In the article, Health Risks of an Inactive Lifestyle, Medline Plus lists 10 health risks associated with an inactive lifestyle. Interestingly enough, these 10 health risks are very similar to the risk associated with poor stress management. 
 
These risks include:
Obesity
Heart disease, including CAD and heart attack
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
Stroke
Metabolic syndrome
Diabetes (Type 2)
Certain cancers
Osteoporosis and falls
Increased feelings of depression and anxiety
The article goes on to give some suggestions on how to start working on increasing our level of activity. 
Personally, I am trying to get back into it because time waits for no one, and neither does age. It is not easy until it becomes habitual, and you don't stop. So here I go again because it is important. Exercise is a great stress reliever and helps to keep the mind sharp. Let's release some stress, balance ourselves out and get moving! The below pin from Pinterest is a good suggestion to kick-start a workout.
 

Missing Out? How to Overcome Missed Opportunities and Beat FoMO for Good

In this Show
Short & Stories
A Drop of Happy Shorts and Stories coming
Journal Prompt: What’s the one thing you do that always brings you some level of joy
Teaser: coming up, entertainment shenanigans cocoa, Tyler Perry lawsuit, Hot new couple, tiktok ban, main impacts of missed opportunities
Entertainment News
R. Kelly hospitalized
Congratulations, Colman Doming,o for Native Son Award
Beyoncé Carter’s Cowboy tour is killing the chitlin circuit
Teyana Taylor and Aaron Pierre make a beautiful couple
Mariah Carey's new song
BET Awards with Kevin Hart hosted: Glorilla, Snoop
The American Music Awards, with host J-Lo
Tyler Perry lawsuit, Straw
Brit Eady 20 million Bravo lawsuit
Shannon Sharpe lawsuit
Chris Brown May arrest in the UK
Justine Baldoni $400 million counter lawsuit dismissed
Diddy Trial follow Mona
TikTok ban but not ban again
Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try –Jack Canfield
Let’s talk about The 5 Types of Overthinkers
Let’s talke about FoMO. Cleveland Clinic Article: FOMO Is Real: How the Fear of Missing Out Affects Your Health
So missed opportunities can increase and impact the feelings associated with FoMO. I also think it affects our morale as well. As discussed in the Cleveland Clinic article as to why it happens, the link to low self-esteem and then depression makes sense. 
The cause and cure is you. –Xscape. 
I cannot stress enough the impact of trying vs not trying at all. It is like the act of living. We have to shift our mindset and find success in the doing because sometimes the ultimate outcome may not be all that we thought and then we will look for the next journey. 
However, if we do nothing, we will have nothing or be in the same spot

The Power of a Proactive Mindset: Small Steps, Big Transformation

The Power of a Proactive Mindset
You don’t have to chase what’s meant for you. What’s meant for you, will find you. -Alex Elle
What is meant for you will find you, but you must be ready to receive it. I often imagine that some people may hear that quote and believe that if they think it or dream it, it will come. That is a wonderful sentiment but lacks a basis in reality. Because you have to lay the groundwork to not only receive it but, most importantly, first, recognize it. Sometimes that thing can be staring you down, but because you are not in a space to notice, the moment passes you by.
Recognize and receive.
Are you ready for it? What’s meant for you can be life-changing but only if you are ready to go in that direction. So it is not enough to dream about it, although that is a start, but we have to do the work. Of course, we don’t have to chase that thing down because if you are doing the work, I genuinely believe things will start to fall into place. You will notice, and the momentum will continue to guide you in the right direction. It’s a balance of being prepared to recognize and receive.
Taking this a step further, we are not chasing down anything that is not for us, but we can be proactive in preparing for our success. Being proactive shows that we believe in ourselves, our efforts and have faith in our future.
Article highlight from Psi Chi: Proactivity: The key to personal and professional success
Listen to the podcast for further discussion on the key highlights
Poractivity is impactful.
Proactivity is a skill you can develop by engaging in:
Self-efficacy
Growth mindset
Future focus
Five Strategies to be more proactive:
Set SMART Goals
Approach goals with a growth mindset to anticipate obstacles and remain resilient
Believe in yourself and strengthen your self-efficacy
Seek opportunities
Envision your future success

She The People Disappoints: A Missed Opportunity in Comedy and Commentary

Stress management tip inspired by Anotinette: Know when to lean on your support system
Know that I took one for the team and watched this so you don’t have to. Listen to the podcast to get the real deal. I am giving you all the spoilers as well because you should not have to watch this to know what happens. Sorry, not sorry.
She the People, a Tyler Perry Production, stars Terri J Vaughn as Antoinette Dunkerson, Jade Novah as Shamika, Jo Marie Payton as Cleo Dunkerson, Regi Davis as Butler Donald, Karon Riley as Michael, and Terrence “TC” Carson as Danny, to name a few. It follows Antoinette Dunkerson as she becomes the Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi.
Tyler Perry Hater
Pride and Prejudice
Check out my Mea Culpa Review
Antoinette is losing the race for Lieutenant Governor until she is caught on video, protecting her daughter. Well, she punched her underage daughter’s older boyfriend, who took her to an adult party. After the video went viral, she surprisingly won the election.

Stressed Out? Activate Your Core Values for Relief and Resilience

The first step is getting to know yourself. Start the process by reflecting on what your values are and how they tie into your life.

Sinners: The One Thing That Stopped Me From Giving It a Perfect 10

Sinners: The One Thing That Stopped Me from Giving It a Perfect 10
Stress Management Tip inspired by Sammie: Follow your heart
You must become unshakable in the belief that you are worthy of a big life –Kristin Lohr
Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler, was released on April 18, 2025, to high critical praise and a strong box office showing for an R-rated horror movie. It is poised to become a classic.

When Doing It All Goes Wrong: 5 Life Balance Tips to Get Back on Track

The quote “Life is a balance between holding out and letting go” is one of my favorite quotes by Rumi because it is so on point. When I think about how things got so out of wack so quickly and put it against this quote, I see that’s exactly what I’ve been doing wrong. Fighting for my life, holding on to the way that I thought was right. We sometimes do that thinking we are on the right track and it falls flat because we end up hurting ourselves.
Here are five simple tips that I hope will help with the balancing act of life because we really all need a little grace and grounding sometimes.
Start your day off with Intention- Reflect on your day and what you want out of it. Set a positive tone. Breathe and relax.
Focus on one thing at a time- multitasking is not real. Give the one thing your full attention. Presence = Peace
Protect your “no”- No is a full sentence. You don’t have to do everything for everybody. Boundaries are important.
Schedule your joy like it’s an appointment. Whether it’s a walk, a dance break, or watching a show, block out time for things that make you feel good. Don’t treat yourself as a side project.
Rest before you are exhausted. Do not wait until you are about to drop because then it is too late.

Captain America: Brave New World – A Hero’s Journey Against All Odds

Captain America: Brave New World – A Hero’s Journey Against All Odds
Journal Prompt: What are three things I can do this week to take care of myself?
Captain America: Brave New World starting with Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford was released in theaters on February 14th. Now, I admit that I did not have high hopes for this movie based on a couple of things. Ever since Avengers: Endgame Marvel hasn’t been hitting it like it used to and the trailers I’ve watched for Brave New World did not get me excited enough about this new Marvel movie. Nevertheless, I was determined to see for myself because the racist trolls were trying to take it down before it even got the chance all because they did not like a black Captain America. They did not even care that the storyline followed the comics and even had one host talking about how Steve gave the shield to some random black guy. Random (in my Soldier Boy voice)! We will not have it oh. So my son and I decided to check it out on opening night.
Captain America: Brave New World finds Sam, the new Captain America, working closely with the President of the United States on a mission that ends up going sideways. Eventually, they find themselves on opposite teams again while Sam tries to get to the bottom of an evil plan to spark off a potential World War Three situation. Starring Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson aka Captain America, Harrison Ford as Thaddeus Ross, Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres, Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder, and Carl Lumbly as Isaiah Bradley to name a few, Captain America: Brave New World does not disappoint.
I was pleasantly surprised and entertained to the point that I will be watching it again. The pacing was well done and I appreciated it more the second time around. It started a tad slow but that was necessary to build the background and get us acclimated with the new Captain America and where he fits in the landscape of things. The acting and special effects were on point, but I particularly enjoyed the cinematography, especially with the air shots. The character development in this film was well done as they had layers of complexity and realism considering having to deal with the aftermaths of End Game. They did a great job showcasing the new Captain America’s strengths and skill set. I also enjoyed how they brought past movies to the current plot and tied up loose ends while potentially introducing the next Avenger phase.
Overall, I enjoyed it and found it more substantive which I discuss further when I get into the spoiler sections. Let me just say my favorite character is Isaiah followed by Thaddeus and that’s because both actors, Carl Lumbly and Harrison Ford, did the darn thing. There were a couple of things that left me with a question mark which is why it will not end up with a 10.
Captain America: Brave New World 9/10
Spoilers ahead
So it starts with Sam as the new Captain America and the wannabe Falcon, Joaquin Torres assigned to a secret mission to retrieve a valuable item that was en route to Japan. We later find out the item was an adamantium sample that is at the center of a treaty Thaddeus is working on with three other countries. He is looking for collaboration on further mining and production of said mineral found in Celestial Island after the events of The Eternals movie. After which, we learn that the president invites Sam and Joaquin to the White House where Isaiah Bradley, a super soldier who was wrongfully imprisoned and tested on for 30 years, along with a few other personnel shoots up the white house event. It looks like, Isaiah was trying to kill the president but then runs off. Sam catches up with him and urges him to turn himself in.
Sam then tries to talk to the president into letting him investigate but Thaddeus digs at him not being Steve Rogers or essentially not being the real Captain America. Sam gets upset and decides to investigate himself. He eventually finds out that Samual Stern is the master manipulator behind everything that has been happening with his ultimate goal for Theddues to turn into Red Hulk. Thaddeus, pushed to the edge by Stern's antics, eventually does turn into the Red Hulk, and Sam swoops in to save the day. In the process, they have an impressive air fighting scene involving Sam, Joaqui,n and a couple of other fight jets. Unfortunately, Joaquin gets badly hurt during this process and requires life-saving surgery which he gets and survives. We also have a Bucky sighting amid all the craziness.
Listen for more on
Sam Wilson played by Anthony Mackie
Thaddeus Ross played by Harrison Ford
Isaiah Bradley played by Carl Lumbly
Secret Agent Leila Taylor played by Xosha Roquemore
Sidewinder played by Giancarlo Esposito
Ruth Bat-Seraph played by Shira Haas
Samuel Stern played by Tim Blake Nelson
Commander Dennis Dunphy played by William Mark McCullough