The year is ending, and with the end of the year come final exams, Christmas shopping, travel, inevitable holiday weight gain, navigating work schedules, freezing weather, and a myriad of other winter stressors. And while it’s true that we’re smack in the center of Thanksgiving and the holidays (when everyone is in an introspective, jolly mood as well), one thing is not time-sensitive: the realization that everything is beautiful.

There’s a major risk of dissociation in the contemplation about one’s life and its uniqueness; it confounds me that something so beautiful is so dangerous. But it doesn’t stop me from thinking about how thankful I am that this is my life, that this is what God is teaching me right now, and that no one else has this life.

There is beauty in everything. Perhaps it is an undying optimism that is not innate to me but that I am determined to grind into my nature; perhaps it is only the time of year which brings both unique difficulties and unique joys. In the midst of an unfilled prescription (which was followed by a short mental breakdown), here are some little joys I’ve observed this week.

1. The Spongebob Squarepants Broadway musical. It’s not bad.
2. Fluffy pajamas. (Need I say more?)
3. A grilled chicken salad. (Who knew?)
4. Nintendo’s mobile Animal Crossing game. (My childhood has returned; what a joy, I must say.)
5. Satisfactory Fitbit numbers.
6. My favorite movie poster. (Tis the season of The Disaster Artist!)
7. A color-coded schedule. (Read: the illusion of control.)
8. Laying down after a long shift and a shower.
9. Vacation plans.
10. Grace. (Giving it; receiving it; repeating it; embracing it.)
11. A clean room. (It’s strange to think how my childhood chores have become my adult pleasures.)
12. Movie theater popcorn. (When I should be on a diet… but come on.)
13. Christmas music.
14. Christmas lights
15. Christmas trees.
16. Just… Christmas.
17. Good news about a final exam.
18. An unexpected text.
19. A small button that reads, “I am beautiful.” (I am a thing, am I not?)
20. The knowledge that God is good and that things will get better.

That’s twenty right there, and I didn’t even have to think that hard about it! Surely you’ve got something to smile about.

Sometimes we’re not in a good place. Suffering exists all around the world and it would be ignorant to act like my problems are worse than everyone (or anyone) else’s, but suffering is suffering.

God doesn’t waste a moment of our suffering, and he is surely in the business of making beauty out of ash. No matter what you’re going through, sometimes it helps to remember that there is beauty everywhere.