I am happy to be alive.

I am incredibly grateful for the warming blanket of sunshine, the caress of a strong breeze of wind, and the feeling of my heart beating as I inhale and exhale softly, letting air slip in and out of my lungs at its leisure.

It feels amazing to be me.

There are so many negative things in the world. Sometimes, you need a little extra bit of positivity in your life. I hope this article instills some inspiration and motivation in you to love yourself more and to do more things to take care of yourself.

Learning to Live Love

Being alive is amazing. If you think about it on a purely physical level, you are a collection of atoms held together by electric forces that function as a unit. You are a collection of muscle fibers, connective tissue, skin, organs, veins, arteries, capillaries, and blood that just happens to work together, that has grown, been damaged, and repaired itself so that you, whatever the true component of you may be (your mind, your soul, your spirit), could continue living and functioning as a physical entity in this world.

My personal experiences have led me to a point in my life where many thing could happen and many things could change in seconds. I'm sure most people take for granted how much of their lives are controlled by external factors, things that you couldn't change if you wanted to. When I recognized this, I found myself much happier and less stressed about life in general.

And from there, the overall quality of my life got better.

I started feeling like a literal representation of my favorite thing to call myself:

"a happy little ball of sunshine"

And I started acting like one, too.

I realized that I could touch other people's lives and cheer them up just by exuding happiness. Being happy all the time is certainly something that's not easy, but nothing in life is easy all the time, and it's something that we as humans have no control over.

So that's exactly what I try to do. I stop in to places where I know there are people just living their lives, working away on a normal, neutral day, and I try to make them happy. I put out a little bit of extra effort, try to share a little bit of humanly love, in order to help someone have a slightly brighter day. It costs maybe a few minutes of my time for me to hopefully bring some enjoyment into their day that they'll think about after I leave, and in addition to that, I leave happier knowing that I not only made someone's day better, but that they cheered me up too.

It's a simple, wonderful thing.

Living to Love Life

I live because I'm curious about different events and situations that I'll come across later in life, but others may need something more. Some people need to find meaning in life in order to find it worthwhile to live. Others simply want to be happy in their lives. For many people, there are incredible amounts of ways to do both simultaneously.

Ask yourself, "What makes me happy?"

If your answer is something you do regularly, great! Keep doing it! I hope it makes you feel like a confident, awesome person who is capable of anything.

If your answer is something that you could do regularly but don't, I would highly recommend making it (whatever it may be) a part of your weekly routine. It makes life so much better. Self-care is incredibly important as it comes to your mental health, your physical health, and your self-esteem. It's nice to spend an extra little bit of time on yourself every once in a while and pamper yourself.

As I mentioned before, I make myself happy by visiting people in the hopes of brightening their day. But that's not the only thing I do.

Every week, I'll do my best to take some time for myself. Normally, Friday nights at college are quiet and peaceful in my room, so I'll hang out in the room and just breathe. It's nice to laze while I breathe in air that is settling after having been stirred by the many college students walking about during the week. It's a feeling that took more than a couple of weeks for me to realize was there, but no time at all to appreciate.

So please, take care of yourself. You are a wonderful, complex being that exists in an ever-changing, fascinating world. The fact that you're alive is amazing enough on its own, and it's even more amazing that you have incredible amounts of potential within you to change this great big world we live in. Just make sure you spend some time appreciating what you have, to just breathe and enjoy the feel of being.

It feels amazing to be alive.