This time of year can be lonely. With colder weather, we yearn for deeper connections and closer friendships. Magic is hard enough to find these days, isn’t it? When the novelty of the new year slips away, we settle into an everyday routine.We drive the same roads and order the same coffee and somewhere through the days, we forget the wonder of life. It’s not our fault; it’s an easy thing to lose.
And sometimes that magic comes back in glimpses and flashes — when you watch The Lord of the Rings again, or catch sight of a blazing sunset in your rearview mirror, or unexpectedly have a deep and raw conversation with a friend, or stumble on a good book that makes you want to stay up way past your bedtime until your eyes sting with exhaustion.
Those are the moments that make you believe in life again. Those are the moments when you remember that we are called to something greater than the monotony of living the same day again and again. And so here it is: if you are finding yourself in a dreary routine, here are a few ways to fall in love with life again.
1. Remember What You Love
Take a minute and recall the last time you had a bubbly feeling of excitement in your stomach. Imagine the things that give you a tickle of possibility, when your mind soars above the clouds of “should” and into the realm of “could.” When you take a long hot shower, what do you wonder about? If you had a week-long break without any looming deadlines or projects at hand, what would you do?
Maybe you daydream about spending your weekends kayaking in the serenity of a mountain lake, gazing at the constellations and watching stars, or going on long rambling walks with friends in the evenings. Maybe you dream about living sustainably on a homestead in the middle of the countryside. Maybe you wish you had more time to go bird-watching, hiking, cycling, running, cooking new recipes, arranging flowers, organizing bookshelves, knitting.
Maybe you would be happiest puttering around in your home studio making candles or crafting jewelry or scrapbooking or painting. Maybe you wish you had more time to write a novel, a film script, a memoir, or poetry.
Find those things. Whatever you could spend hours doing, until time and trouble vanish in a pleasant hum of happiness — do more of that.
2. Make Space to Breathe
Usually I find that the reason I feel dry or worn out is that I have been in the grind of constant work or school from dawn until dusk. When that’s the case, I need to remember to leave some space to just be.
First thing in the morning, get out of bed and open the windows. Feel the rising sun warm your skin. When the morning sky is bright with colors of imagination, take a deep breath of that fresh air. Think about what a miracle it is that you are alive.
Give yourself time to get outside. Take a walk down to the park on your lunch break or steal a few minutes away in your backyard; just sit down for a few minutes and breathe. Look around you. What do you see? Allow yourself to think in poetry: the scents of flowers, the caressing breeze, the chittering songs of birds. Watch the stars come out into the inky skies.
Your soul needs space. Let yourself breathe.
3. Surround Yourself with Beauty
“It’ll all shake out. In the meantime, I’m putting up more twinkly lights.” (Kathleen Kelly, You’ve Got Mail)
There is always more beauty around you than you realize. It just depends on your perspective. Most of the time, you just don’t notice it. And a funny thing happens, the more you look for beauty, the more of it you see.
For one day – just one day – take pictures of every little thing. Take pictures of the cream making swirling galaxies in your coffee. Take pictures of your best friend as they walk ahead of you on the street. Take pictures of your work space. At the end of the day, look through your collection of pictures and realize all the beauty in the ordinary moments of your life. Photography has this magical way of making you slow down and really see everything around you with a fresh perspective.
If photography isn’t your thing, though, make a habit of journaling every night. Write down all the things you’re most proud of and remember all the beauty you found today.
4. Make Art
Write freeform poetry on the back of your grocery store receipt. Eavesdrop on people’s conversations on the bus and scrawl a short story about it in your writing notebook. Sketch the view from your window. Draw a fantasy map and start imagining stories that happened there when you listen to music on the drive home. Doodle or make blueprints for redesigning a room.
Have fun. Don’t force it. The easiest way to stifle creativity is to choke it with perfectionism. Just remember why you love to do this. Use art as an expression of all those random flitting thoughts you have.
And sometimes, when your mind gets too full of tangled thoughts, go somewhere quiet and set a timer for thirty minutes and let your thoughts spill onto the pages of your journal. Don’t filter. Don’t judge. This is for no one’s eyes but your own.
Art doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. It’s way more fun if it isn’t.
5. Find Something to Look Forward to Every Day
What are you excited for today?
Ask yourself that question every morning when you wake up. And more importantly, make sure you have an answer — whether it is wearing your favorite outfit or having coffee and catching up with an old friend.
It could be as simple as a meal. For breakfast first thing in the morning, make yourself a big bowl of fresh fruit, or oatmeal with nuts and berries, or a plate of scrambled eggs with garlic and a slice of avocado and a squirt of lemon. Whatever it is, arrange it on a little plate so it looks instagram-worthy. Then sit down and eat it and do nothing else. When you taste it, really taste it.
Every Sunday, I like to sit down and plan the week ahead. In addition to working on academic projects or getting to appointments and whatnot, I like to hug my cup of tea and plan at least one exciting thing to look forward to every day: getting myself a coffee when I revise my notes, a face mask tonight before bed, a walk on the beach this weekend. Plan ahead and make sure you have your little rituals to refresh your soul.
And there you have it, dear friends! I hope you remember the wonder of being alive.
Wishing you a magical week,
<3 Olivia Grace
