Was sitting outside yesterday evening with my family, watching the giant forest trees sway in the wind, appreciating how magical the sound of swirling trees could be and how much they, like the sounds of the ocean, remind me that there are bigger things than me in the world. It was that moment that I also found myself appreciating my life more than I had at any other point all day. I told my husband, "I love our life" and when he asked if there was anything specific, I replied with all the seemingly obvious or mundane things: having a yard (coming from a condo), backing up to the forest, seeing the forest animals, having our own home, living somewhere where we have such great evenings, our dogs, our time together, etc. Nothing from the list stood out as striking or "incredible", but that's exactly the point. We need to remember to love and appreciate and be grateful for the seemingly normal and mundane, because those incredible moments are the ones that make up our life.
Some other things I find I love and look forward to because we have made them special:
- Special Coffee Fridays: we used to make this our Starbucks day, but since we work remotely now we make this our start of our Nespresso Weekend tradition. I find I wake up Friday mornings excited because I get the 'special' coffee.
- Friday Lunch Takeout: we spend most of the week eating and making food we have in the house. But Friday lunch we treat ourselves to take out, usually of a sizable enough portion that it becomes lunch and dinner. These tend to rotate between tacos, sushi, and pizza, but every now and again we'll try something new.
- Saturday Morning Movies: Sometimes we find we are busy doing individual things and errands not he weekends, so Saturday morning is when we come together to drink coffee, have food (take out or homemade) and watch shows. Usually around 10/11 am we start a movie. If not, we just marathon a few episodes of a show we are watching together.
- Afternoon Treat Playtime: Our two dogs get "treat balls" (or these treat ball / puzzle things that they have to roll and bite etc to figure out how to release all the treats inside). Every afternoon they get them. I love taking the few minutes out of my day to watch them fill with excitement and think and work hard to get every last treat out of their toy. It's so rewarding to watch someone else fill with joy.
So, I implore you to keep finding ways to appreciate and acknowledge all the little moments in life that are so paramount to your everyday but also foundational to your happiness. Share your little joys with us!
