Little things. The term means something different to everyone. It could mean that a cup of tea, lovingly prepared by your Mother, is sat steaming and waiting for you on the kitchen counter as you walk through the door. It could mean that your Father checks the brake pads, or the oil of your Volkswagen Polo that sits perched, ready and eager on the drive. It could mean that your sister sneaks into your room and moves every single item that you own into an unfamiliar place, just because she wants you to know that she’s around. And, trust me, an upturned moisturiser or an ESSIE nail colour placed randomly under your pillow is something that I am very much used to. But, no matter your definition of ‘little things’, no matter how you define these in your own life, these gestures will always signify one thing, and that is love.
Take time to notice these little things. Our lives are full with things that don’t really matter, or have no real significance to how we grow as people, how our families function or how our friends become an eternal part of our lives. We tend to cram every insignificant, meaningless thing into our lives to distract us from what’s happening right now and in this very moment. The true, great and meaningful things that are there, but we never notice, are evicted from our headspace when we focus on human toxicity, when we focus on political-correctness, when we focus on the pain of the past or the shoe-string hope that is the future. We can never guarantee tomorrow, so why live stuck in the past, why live in a future that isn’t promised? It’s partly because we overlook the little things, that really, aren’t little, but are colossal pieces of our lives that build us up into who we are in the present moment.
When we choose to ignore the good things that are right in front of us, the things that are so suffused with love you can barely breathe, we are no longer on a trajectory of happiness. We are on a trajectory that is doomed to fail. It will poison the mind, blacken your heart and sour the soul. Focus on the things that matter, like the extra “I love you” your Mother cries out to you as you walk out of the door to work, or the “look both ways when crossing the road” from your Father as you blunder into the open air, or the “text me when you’re home” message from your sister when you live 300 miles away from your family home, and you’re stumbling in from a night out at university.
It’s okay to be tired, it’s okay to want to hide away from people from time to time. You are allowed to have ‘off-days’ where you’re sat in your room and you’re in a temperamental mood – we are human, this is part of living. It’s perfectly fine to have disagreements, arguments, fall-outs and spats, all this proves is that the love is always there; never extinguished. Escape from the toxic spew, talk to your parents, talk to your siblings, catch up with friends – old and new. Value the little things. Value the love and care that is so ever-present in your life, whether that is provided from your parents, siblings, lovers or friends.
Don’t be afraid to live in the moment, because the moment is the only thing we have.
Life's Privilege 