I Wonder What Would Happen If We All Tried To Romanticize Ourselves For A Change

We are all so good at it – putting a dark tint on all of our struggles while viewing our social media feeds with rose colored glasses. We create online boards full of pictures and quotes of how we think our lives should be filtered to look, and are constantly craning our necks to see how the person next to us is doing. We think we are the only ones going through it all, the only ones with stress and money problems and family issues. And to top it off, we are so good at convincing ourselves that the world is out to get us because of x, y and z.

When we really take a step back and look at it though, it’s impossible not to see that through it all, we’re still living. We still have a life with a pulse and people around us (whether bad, good, or great) that are pushing us forward just by being a part of the day-to-day. What if we could separate the big picture into tiny little moments that come to mean something more than getting through another day? What if we could romanticize ourselves waking up, completing our tasks or planning for something new, drinking our coffee, talking with family, friends and acquaintances and just exhaled knowing for once that this is all enough. What if we could just let our goals and aspirations be just that and bask in the hope of something more, rather than hit ourselves over the head day in and day out for not being further along?

What if, in a world where information is so readily available and easily consumed, we could start relishing in asking questions? Not only embrace the unknown, but kick our shoes off and put our feet up on it. What if we decided that our struggles were making us stronger instead of taking them as an indication that we’re weak? What if we took the time to decide what is worth struggling for instead of succumbing to it blindly?

Your problems aren’t special, but the way you choose to handle them could be. We are all stressed out right now, but maybe instead of validating that about ourselves and dismissing the stress of others, we could just all collectively decide to help one another through it. We could pick compassion over pride, and pride in our strength over the fear that we can’t handle it all. Even if we can’t handle it all, we will, because we’ll keep going. If we were to give up, we would have already done so. Now all we need to do is let go of what’s unnecessary.

It’s easy to romanticize that which you feel you are lacking. So if you have a partner, maybe you can romanticize the decision to love even harder or let go. If you’re single, maybe you can romanticize having the bed to yourself and the underappreciated innocence of wondering who you might end up with, or even more importantly, who you might be? Maybe it’s time to decide who family is based on the life before and behind you rather than leaving it up to blood and charts. Maybe it’s time to pick a future based on what scares and excites you rather than what feels safe. Maybe it’s time to see that every moment you enjoy is an arrival somewhere, you’ve made it. Maybe it’s time to stare those moments in the eye instead of swiping it aside for pursuit of the next one.

Maybe it’s time to take more pictures (ones that we never intend on posting), curate our own soundtrack that pumps our blood in all the right ways, and just start romanticizing the hell out of what is already ours.