a new and improved life

I recently discovered the world of blogging.  Previously, I dismissed blogs as a waste of time, something people did because they were bored with their own life, so they wanted to read about someone else's life. kind of like reality tv, which i disdain. I considered it a waste of time that could be spent doing something constructive, getting something done.  but then i looked at a blog that my dear friend J has had, because she put a picture of me on it, and i wanted to see if i looked ok. very shallow of me, but i usually make weird faces, which isn't a big deal in real life, but captured forever in digital format and put on the internet is completely different.

so i looked.
it was a good picture.
and then i kept looking.
she has a lot of posts.
and then i realized: this is like a journal.
a window into J's life that she was sharing with me. suddenly i understood her a little bit more, her creativity and the wonderful way she describes her life in each post.
it was lovely!
i was hooked.
and then i got an invitation from my mother in law to check out her blog.
amazing! i learned so much about her. she gave perfect glimpses into her life that made me adore her even more. and thats when it hit me. she was taking time to enjoy her life.
i usually approach life as a to do list. an endless checklist that is full of chores and necessary responsibilities. which helps me get things done, but doesn't really help me enjoy the process. the only enjoyment is a brief satisfaction of crossing an item off. only there are a million more items waiting to be crossed off. not a very fun way to live life, in my opinion.  M, on the other hand, is a  master of savoring the moment.

initially i thought, "what a luxury that is."

but then i kept thinking as i continued to follow her blog, and i realized, i can savor life too.
instead of hating fall because of the unpleasantness of getting up to darker and darker mornings, i can enjoy the beautiful sunny afternoons and foggy mornings, comfort myself with earl grey tea lattes on rainy service days, and treat myself to some spicy scented candles (something the old me would have considered too frivolous to purchase).
i used to savor life like that, but somewhere along the way i discarded that way of living life as something impractical and unnecessary.
and a part of me got lost. because, we are meant to enjoy this amazing world around us, and forgetting that fact gave me a very negative outlook on my life.

so thanks, M, for helping me to see the world through your eyes as it really is: full of simple beauty.

i promise to keep looking.