Too often we get into funks that we can’t get out of. Bad days start piling up turning our bad week into a bad month. What we have to understand is that these things don’t last. These bad moments, days, weeks, or memories aren’t what our lives are about. There is so much to look back on and smile about, and there is so much to look forward to and dream about.
I got asked a question today, probably one of the simplest, yet most complex questions I’ve gotten in awhile. Someone asked me, “What are you excited about?” and the first thing that popped into my mind was Thanksgiving break. But a week is an extremely broad category to look forward to, and that’s when I realized that categorizing hundreds of small excitements into one main event is one of the reasons why people don’t look as brightly to the future as they should. Yes, life is full of large, exciting events but break them down- dissect these broad occasions into specific feelings and moments.
You may be having a bad day, thinking nothing good can come possibly come out of these next few hours. Well, I’m glad you stumbled across this piece of writing because you’re so, so wrong. To answer the simple question, “What are you excited about?” is not so simple.
I’m excited to walk outside in an hour for class and smell the crisp scent of the leaves falling outside on my campus. I’m excited to get my new glasses on Monday even though I hate wearing glasses instead of contacts. I’m excited to get in my car and drive 40 miles home, taking in all of the beautiful fall scenery on my way to the familiarity of my hometown and my house. I’m excited to pull into my driveway as my mom and puppy rush to the window, waving and barking because they’re so immensely excited that I’m home for the week. I’m excited to walk into my house for the first time in awhile to be greeted by my mom’s smiling face, my puppy’s wagging tail, and the smell of my favorite homemade meal cooking in the oven.
I’m excited to sit around the Thanksgiving table with my entire family, hand in hand, expressing that we’re mostly thankful for the company we’re with at that exact moment. I’m excited to take that first bite of pumpkin pie and laugh with my cousins the way we used to as children. I’m excited to hug my grandparents and take in the familiar smell of my grandpa’s cologne. I’m excited to put up Christmas decorations like I did when I was a child, singing silly Christmas songs and drinking hot chocolate with the fireplace lit. I’m excited to go Black Friday shopping with my friends that I haven’t seen since August when we all parted our ways for college again this year, standing in the cold waiting for the stores to open and watching as people fight each other for whatever it is that they can’t seem to get on a normal day. I’m excited to sleep in my big, comfy bed with my puppy by my side, taking up the entire bed but not caring because her sweet face and soft sighs are what I’ve really missed in my lonely twin bed at college.
