Today I finished a book. Today I went to work. Today I learned more in three hours than I think I have in the last three years. Today I realized how much time I'm wasting on a daily basis. I re-watched the pilot of Shameless (US) last week and in the first episode, Steve goes on a tangent about how we often deny ourselves the simplest pleasures in life, which are the ones we deserve most. While I know, taking life advice from Shameless probably isn't my best idea, he has a point.
We spend l i t e r a l hours scrolling social media and watching other people do what makes them happy. Do you know what makes me happy? Books, professional wrestling, my best friends and my dogs. Reflecting on my last year on this planet, I read two books that were not required for school, attended one wrestling show, went on one vacation and spent MAYBE three days of quality time with my dog. Why? Where was I so busy in between that I couldn't fit in 15 pages here? Or going downtown to see my heroes slug it out one night? How with all the lazy days I spent with my friends did we only make it to the beach once?
Sure, you can argue the money side, but how much money does an adventure take? One of my favorite memories with my best friend is laying on a dock five minutes from our house while she panicked over a duck coming towards her. We get so wrapped up in the often photoshopped splendor of everyone else's timeline that we forget to remember who we are and to do what makes us happy.
I work 30+ hours a week. I am actively enrolled in 18 credit hours. I student teach. I write. All of these things make me insanely happy, but they also put mass amounts of pressure on me. This time last year, I was miserable and crying myself to sleep (at 4:00 am) almost every night from the stress and the thoughts of not being good enough. Had I realized it was okay to take a day off and go to a concert, or a wrestling show, or just to breathe, I would have been so much happier.
I was wrapped up in this vortex of trying to be everything I wanted to be when really I didn't know who she was. I lost sight of the things that actually made me happy. To cut a long story short, you have to remember what makes you happy and make time for it. What if Fiona had gone with Steve? What if she would have met him at the airport? Would she have to suffer through everything the Gallagher's go through? Would she had been happier? With the life she deserved?
What about you? Let's think smaller. What if you went to that concert with your friend? Asked out that boy in Starbucks? Went to that seminar? Wrote that book? So, why are you still sitting here? Go. The world is yours.
