I'm living in Richmond, VA with incredible co-interns, working for a non-profit whose mission I fully support, and doing life without reference to academics for the first time since age 5.
Despite the marvel of now, the world seems far more fascinated by what's coming/the end goal/the five year plan. But hey there world — just one hot second. I'm alive now and doing things, things that definitely matter.
This stage of life is marked by some serious pressure to sift through the complexity of the future. This occasionally comes at the cost of the present. We young whippersnappers are expected to pro/con all our options and have thoughtful answers for every grandma, uncle, and passerby that demands the storyboard of our lives.
That's a bit complicated. It's complicated even though I can finally articulate a rough idea of my next five years! I say it, the same blurb time and time again, but I can't and won't guarantee that any of it will come to fruition. And that's super OK by me.
As I turn the corner and face 2015, I want to focus more on this living thing. I'd like to strip away that which hinders and have a clear vision for what's here in this moment. Constant planning and nonsense can (and does) seriously convolute the now. I'm tired of missing out on the beauty before me while constantly jumping up to peek over the wall of tomorrow.
There is wonder in today. There is meaning in simplicity. There is purpose in the mundane.
Our constantly stimulated lives cause us to forget these truths. I'm up there with the best of them — Instagramming, Facebooking, emailing, texting, blah blah blah. Yet when I pay attention, I can truly delight in stunning, simple moments. My Amélie moments.
The feeling of swishing my hand around while rinsing rice in warm water.
The sound of straightening a stack of addressed and stamped envelopes.
The taste of brilliantly repurposed leftovers.
The sight of carefully made latte art.
I shall seek a simpler, slower pace this year. I'll read for pleasure and write and snail mail and blog and craft and cook. I'll do those glorious things I miss and love, things my tortuous lifestyle has pushed out of view in the past many years. I'll work in random GRE vocabulary because I'm throwing down (standardized test style) in a few months. I shall seek joy and find it, because joy is good like that.
I'm pumped about it all, and you should be too. Living is too marvelous to not be totally stoked most of the time.
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