It’s one thing to be alive, but it’s another to actually be living. As humans, we have the choice to go through the motions, watching the days go by, or we can really embrace the life around us. It’s easier than you think to fall in the routine of the first option.

I’m not going to lie, I’ve lived a majority of my life that way. However recently I’ve been making a conscious effort to wake up each morning with a new goal: to actually live my life. I want to experience it all. I want to experience happiness from everything around me, big and small. However with this mindset, I have to expect to have my share of misfortune-- that is part of living. Something I’ve come to realize is that I cannot have the mindset that life is only full of happy things. The reality is, it isn’t. But this doesn’t mean I can’t live a happy life. It’s completely possible to live a happy life while dealing with problems. That’s one huge lesson I’ve learned.

So what exactly does life mean to me?

Life is the little things. There are so many things that we all experience. We all turn 18, we all go to college, we all get married, etc. These are big things. They don’t differentiate us, though. Some people, including myself once, mistakenly defined life by milestones. Granted, these milestones are very important. But what often gets forgotten are those little things. The things that make us who we are, the things that make those milestones all the more special.

To me, life is the “good morning” Snapchats I take when I just woke up on a Saturday morning. Life is the 24 hour Wawa runs where I pick up a BAI drink and three chicken strips with mashed potatoes/ mac n cheese. Life is that perfect feeling when you find a brand new song on Spotify that really resonates with you. Life is the unrealistic dreams that my friends and I dream of at 1 a.m. in my basement. Life is the hard conversations, the ones that take courage. Life is memorizing the lyrics to a difficult song.

Life is accepting that we can’t be perfect, and learning to accept and embrace our imperfections. Life is finding that perfect outfit that makes you feel so confident in your body. Life is that feeling you get after cleaning out your room to perfection. Life is realizing that not everyone in our lives is meant to stay, and understanding that the important ones will remain in the long run. Life is having a little bit of faith that everything has a purpose, and we will all be okay in the end. Life is those 75 degree and sunny days on the highway with all four windows down, blasting your favorite car playlist from Spotify so loud that you can’t even hear your own voice singing. Life is those weird sayings you use with your best friend that nobody else understands. Life is the books that you get lost in.

Life is the pictures that you take at the most serene places of your vacations. Life is your favorite character on your current TV show. Life is the smile on your friends and family’s faces when they open the gift you picked out especially for them. Life is that impressive grade you got on a test after studying your ass off. Life is seeing your best friend after months of being apart. Life is then laying on the floor with your best friend in silence, not needing any words to fill the space-- each other’s presence is enough. Life is the ability to laugh until your stomach hurts. Life is driving around your silent neighborhood for hours with your friends, just because you aren’t ready to go home. Life is taking risks, like having your friend cut your hair seven inches spontaneously. Life is stepping on the gas at that yellow light. Life is not caring what other’s think of you, but being content with who you have become as a person.

At the end of the day, what you have is yourself. The sooner we realize that and come to love ourselves, the sooner we will realize what life is really all about.

(I’d like to add that I am still a work in progress. There are definitely days when I wake up unhappy with myself, but that is something that I am trying to work on. Happiness comes from within.)