Disclaimer: This column openly discusses mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which may be triggering to some readers.
If you are reading this right now, you are lucky enough to have been woken up this morning.
Whether it was unpleasantly by your alarm or naturally by the sun shining through your blinds, you were blessed enough to wake up this morning.
Some days it can be difficult to see the beauty that comes with being alive. If you struggle with any sort of mental health disorder, something such as getting through the day can sometimes feel impossible.
This week, I want to focus on the reasons we should all feel lucky to be alive, and how to value the time that you are given on this earth.
The Little Things
Some days, life just doesn’t feel like it is going your way.
Sometimes you wake up a little bit too tired, your toast is too toasted, and your hair just doesn’t look the way that you want it to.
On days like this, it is important to shift your perspective.
Every day we have the chance to live.
We wake up in the morning with lungs that help us breathe, with legs that let us walk, with a heart that keeps beating.
It is so easy to get wrapped up in just getting through the day. Sticking to your routine, letting your body run on autopilot, wishing for the “one day” that everything goes to plan. But “one day” quickly comes and goes, and you still aren’t focusing on the parts of life that make it worth living.
Until you begin focusing on the smaller moments that make up your entire life, you’ll never understand the point of continuing to wake up every morning.
Last week, I had a day where it felt as though nothing could go right. I woke up too early and couldn’t go back to sleep, I couldn’t find anything to eat for breakfast, I needed to get gas, and it was way too cold outside.
I found myself shutting off my brain so that I could just finish the day. What woke me up out of this brain fog?
A stranger paid for my Starbucks.
I know that the pay-it-forward trend has been a thing for the last decade, and this wasn’t the first time someone had done this for me, but it still was the reminder I needed. A reminder that the beauty in life comes from the small moments that we often overlook.
Life is when you have the windows down in your car and the wind is moving your hand up and down as you drive. Life is when the food you ordered tastes extra delicious. Life is when your friend plays that one song that you can sing word-for-word.
The beauty of life comes from the smaller moments, the moments that get lost.
Even on days where it feels like nothing is going your way, you must try to focus on the small moments that help you find the good.
My challenge for you is this; at the end of each day, reflect on at least one small moment that made your day even a little better.
These moments are what makes life worth living. Don’t let them slip away.
