As graduation gets closer, I can’t help but stop and think about what the next 3-5 years of my life will hold. At least once a day (usually way more) I find myself thinking about how terrifying it’ll be moving to a new city where I don’t know a single soul, living in a one-bedroom apartment completely alone, finding a way to work enough hours in a week to pay my stupidly expensive rent while also trying to do well in grad school, and the never ending tiny doubt that lives in the back of my brain that maybe, just maybe, I’m choosing the wrong career path and I’m going to absolutely hate it and be stuck for the rest of my life with a useless degree and a horrible job.
All of that can be pretty overwhelming sometimes, so I have to find things to keep me grounded and focused on my end goal and what’s really important, my happiness. I realized that throughout my day I notice little things that make me super happy. The smallest and sometimes irrelevant things that actually make me smile and give me a second of peace to forget about everything that scares me. I started writing them down every time I thought of one, so here’s my list of my top 32 favorite small joys in life.
1. Stepping on a really crunchy leaf
2. Rainy days
3. Red lipstick
4. Finding a penny tails-up, and flipping it over for someone else to find
5. Really loud thunderstorms
6. Driving with the windows down when it’s warm outside
7. Singing in the shower
8. Friday night sleepovers
9. When a friend tells me my advice helped them
10. Videos of people in the military coming home to their dogs
11. When I really love my shoes and I feel super cool
12. Random dinners with my roommates
13. How happy and surprised my mom sounds when I call her randomly
14. My cactus and how it’s always so bright and green
15. FRENCH FRIES
16. Walmart at night time
17. Coffee at 5:30 in the morning
18. Someone letting me know I matter to them
19. The smell of an old book
20. Sunday morning church
21. Taking really cool pictures
22. Dancing with my best friend on Thursday’s
23. All the good sales at Michael’s
24. Really cute old people
25. Holding the door for someone
26. Chips and queso
27. Finding a new band that no one knows about
28. Cutting my own bangs and actually doing a good job
29. New school supplies
30. Going to the grocery store
31. The feeling of pride after getting a new job
32. Sitting in the car to finish a song