Every Day is a Celebration

January 7th is my birthday, and I’ve finally turned 30. While I subconsciously expected something novel to happen, it was a pretty busy day and the celebration was pretty small. However, the celebration of my life isn’t contained within one day of celebration; every day is an opportunity to celebrate. Sounds cheesy? Well, perhaps it could - but it’s true and putting a damper on positivity isn’t going to make life any better. So enjoy every day of being alive!

Life can boring or mundane because we have so many responsibilities and things to do. Some days really are difficult. Some days don’t feel like a party, but it’s not supposed to - it’s all a journey. While we may feel frustrated, down, or bored - it’s through bearing through those days, in which we develop a greater understanding of happiness and appreciation for the good moments.

During my senior year of college, I participated in an exchange program and attended a large university in Honolulu, Hawaii. I thought the experience was going to be awesome, however, it wasn’t nearly as pleasurable of an experience as I had hoped it would be. I had some encounters with racism, had disrespectful roommates, went through a breakup, and I eventually missed being at home with my family and friends.

I nearly came back to my home institute in Minnesota in the middle of wintertime to get out of the hard times I was having. However, I hate the cold winters that Minnesota consistently offers, and I didn’t want to give up on the academic classes I was already involved with.

I had a lot of anxiety from the current situation and I had further worry about what I was going to do when I graduated college. While I still had some great times in Hawaii, I felt generally unhappy in paradise. I didn’t know it at the time since I was so overwhelmed, but it was the time in my life to really break down the bigger picture. I had to deal with the hard times in order to really understand what my life was built upon, who I was, and where I was going.

The difficulty of my experiences helped shape me into a stronger person. However, it was a gradual process. I didn’t like the trouble I had to go through while I was in it. Life certainly did not feel like a celebration for even years to come after. I didn’t know how things were going to change but I had a hope. However, it was my persistence in believing that someday things would get better, that finally, they did get better. Eventually through persistent searching - the answers came.

Life is a teacher, the blessing and curse of experiences is that they are temporary. We should celebrate what we learn everyday because we can use whatever comes our way to become better people – even if the experience bring hurt or pain. We’re not going to be on this Earth forever – make the most of this time.

For further related reading, please check out: And Time Goes On.