The Little Things

Disclaimer:- I fully realize that by writing this, I run the risk of sounding like every preachy Hollywood rom-com ever made. Quite frankly, like a unicorn barfed rainbows into my life. However, as someone who has had more than a fair share of life events not going their way, I will self-proclaim my expertise on the topic and continue regardless. Here’s to appreciating the little things in life.

In the struggle that comes with being older than six in the 21st century, we often lose our brains to the bigger picture – the future. We tend to get so caught up in making the most of our opportunities, that we sometimes forget to register the little things. Those that would bring us as much joy today as a fat paycheck tomorrow would. Alright, maybe not as much, but somewhere there.

Appreciating the Finer Aspects

Little things like being able to strum a bunch of chords in a room full of people who, like you, know all the lyrics to the song. Like having more meaningful conversations sitting in the middle of the campus road than you would expect to have in a therapist’s office. Even events as simple as trading smiles with strangers on the street. Tiny, minuscule things that affect nothing in the grander scheme of things, but ones that, perhaps only momentarily, remind you that there’s hope yet in a world where strangers offer you shelter under their umbrellas when it’s raining.

We live in times when newspapers are full of lives lost or damaged irrevocably. When we can’t quite convince ourselves that bad things only happen to other people. To live more mindfully than our phone addictions and worries would allow us to. We’re at an age where fights become a lot more bitter than friendly quips, and goodbyes don’t just mean for the night. As a result, all we’re left with are the moments we didn’t think to remember. The last remaining embers of light to a relation that went up in smoke.

So as the year draws to a close, and in a continued display of patience with our own selves, we draw up our resolutions – let’s make one that’s just as important as losing those pounds or getting those grades. Let’s remind ourselves in the new year to go catch the show the skies put up for us every evening, to run out into the rain whenever we wish to, to call up our loved ones when we miss them and to smile as if our lives are worth smiling about.

Let’s promise to fill each minute with our own sixty seconds of distance run.

Photographers: Manan Dhuri, Jassil Jamaludhin

Artwork by: Shayaan Habib