I have made a lot of changes to my blog! The background, the title - even the web address!
I just felt that what I had up here to begin with didn't really give a purpose for my blog... so many people have a specific topic that they blog about - whether its running, fashion, being healthy, having a family, etc... and I just couldn't nail down what my "specific topic" was in a nutshell.
I thought about it for a while... I changed the title of the blog to one of my favorite childhood poems, because it truly captures my approach to life. Little drops of water, little grains of sand - (first of all, my beach-thirsty self loves that imagery!) - like the little moments that fill up our lives.
One of the things I have realized coming into adulthood is that its really the poignant, unforgettable moments that make your life what it is. And, though these moments just "happened" accidentally to us as children, we can make them happen as adults. We can choose how beautiful, free, and desirable our own lives are. And its all the little moments, the littlest choices, that make the difference. Like putting up curtains on a bare window. Or listening to Debussy instead of, I don't know, the television.
It struck me the other day, when I was letting Max my labrador out to do his business, that the lady who lives beneath us and always seems so miserable, could have just as beautiful and peaceful an apartment as Jason and I do. Our circumstances are similar - we pay the same rent, we drive similar cars, we have nothing material that she couldn't have. Yet she blares her television, smokes in her living room, and lives under glaring florescent lights in a dirty apartment (as can be seen through her open shades on the first floor). Jason and I light warm lamps, listen to soft music, and enjoy peaceful, quiet evenings with the windows open, the night breeze playing with our gauzy curtains.
God gave us free will as human beings; we have the ability to make our lives what they are. For me, this is the heart of being open to life. Being aware of the present moment - of the choices you have to make your life a thing of beauty and peace. Living life to the fullest means that you embrace what comes and choose to make the best of it - rather than floating through your life as a helpless victim of circumstance.
I am so excited by the challenges that my particular circumstance in life brings me - in just a few short days, I will be a new mother - at 22, one of the youngest mothers I know! - and each day I wake up next to the love of my life. I have been unable to find a good job in our economy, so my current challenge lies in filling up each day with productive choices... cleaning our apartment instead of watching television; cooking delicious dinners from scratch as labors of love for my hardworking husband; reading intelligent, challenging books instead of wasting time on Facebook; exercising instead of napping; in short, making our life beautiful instead of wasting away each day.
This, for me, is living life to the fullest. This is the challenge we wake up with each day.
How do you live your life? If someone could see it as a fly on the wall, could make a movie or write a book about it, what would it look like? Would you be proud of it? Would it be something beautiful?Labels: life, reflection, something true