Something I practice in my everyday life is to try and soak in every moment. Trying to make everything an adventure. Before Covid-19, I loved to travel. I was always good at checking different places off my bucket list. But now, I’m confronted with a bigger task – the task of trying to love every day in a time where all the days feel the exact same. I’m learning to notice the beauty all around me. I’m learning that there are good things to come from a routine, and I’m learning to love my downtime. Learning to love this break from all the normal chaos of being social.
Romanticizing your life… You’ve probably heard about it on TikTok or Instagram. What does romanticizing your life mean for people who aren’t influencers who get paid to just have fun? Romanticizing your life is about noticing and appreciating the little things to upgrade your everyday experience. It’s about picking out the sweet details of everyday life. It’s about taking the ordinary and finding beauty all around you. And if you can’t find it, it’s about creating it for yourself.
For me, romanticizing my life is about hoarding the sweet little moments I experience. It’s seeking out the sunrise and sunset to watch the colors spread across the sky. It’s about finding peace and value in doing things by myself. Romanticizing is about shutting my phone off and connecting with my surroundings. It looks like reserving my Saturdays to hit the reset button and to do something – anything – that I love to do. Romanticizing these little moments don’t get rid of the bad stuff in the world, but instead provide light, hope or something positive to hold onto when you’re in the midst of a slump or a bad week.
We can’t talk about falling in love with life without addressing the elephant in the room. I understand that this pandemic has been hard on all of us. Many people have been in dark places because of the past seven months, or because of events that were triggered as a result. Safe to say, It hasn’t been an easy year. Despite that, it’s important to be easy on yourself and let yourself take your mind off it every once in a while. For now, this is our life. Don’t deny yourself of happiness in these moments. Instead, you need to relish and appreciate any times of happiness you get to experience.
After these past few months, how do we practice romanticizing our lives when these times are rooted in hurt, hardship, boredom, and disappointment? I think the most important first step to take is to get in touch with yourself and to put you at the center of your thoughts. I don’t mean narrow your vision and ignore everybody else around you. We have so many distractions in our everyday life that cloud our thoughts. Try to minimize your worries in order to clear your mind. Make some mental space to figure out what it is that is important to you, and how you can work towards or incorporate it into your everyday life. Really listen to yourself and let it shape your days.
Once you focus on yourself through meditation, focusing on your goals and practicing self-awareness, it’s easy to reshape your days to better suit you and be something you’ll want to remember. I find myself romanticizing my life more and more by establishing new routines (and sticking to them). Usually these start as goals. One thing I’ve learned to really value is a slow morning. Usually, I like to wake up and hop out of bed pretty fast. But I’ve recently been working on becoming a “morning person”, and these little practices have made my mornings slower and something I love and look forward to. What started off as me deleting my social media to try and stay off my phone first thing in the morning has grown to include listening to music while I wake up, meditating, and even getting up to watch the sunrise once in a while. Most people will say they hate mornings. I think this is a great place to start if you are ready to work on loving your ordinary days.
Next up – try and seek out those little adventures with your friends, partners, or family. Be sure to appreciate them and hold them tight. Frame them so beautifully in your mind and keep them as a positive light for when you go through bad days. In a time where social interaction is far and few between, cherish your little moments. Be sentimental about it. In light of these good moments, the bad ones will seem a little less bad.
During this busy and weird time, don’t forget that this time is still yours and can be whatever you want to be. Romanticizing your life is all about loving the little parts of the ordinary instead of wishing it away. Let some days be busy and some days be slow to match whatever you need. But learn to love these days, and not wish they would go away. If you’re in the mindset thinking you can’t do anything right now because of the way the world is and the changes in the school year, I challenge you to change that mindset. You won’t ever get these days back or get the chance to relive them differently, so make some little memories and hold them close. These days are beautiful too.