By romanticizing life, a broken light can seem like a smiling friend. Photo by Fred Avett

Something I’ve noticed and taken advantage of recently is that if I romanticize things in my life, my life becomes more enjoyable. Something as simple as being cut off in traffic can be romanticized and having taken advantage of this, I’ve noticed I’ve been happier. 

The idea of romanticizing to me is choosing to look on the bright side of every situation, or even you can make up something in your mind to justify what someone else is doing to you. It’s just considering what someone else is going through. 

The main situation I make the choice to romanticize is someone being a “mean” driver. If someone cuts me off, doesn’t let me over, or honks at me for no reason, I choose to think that maybe they are having a bad day, maybe they are just learning how to drive, or even I choose to justify it with the fact that they might be rushing somewhere, because me personally I have been in all those situations, and it has caused me to act out in a way. 

Being put in a bad situation can happen to anyone at any time, and no matter how extreme the situation is, it isn’t ideal. Speaking from personal experience there have been times in life where I’ve been struggling in school and this struggle made it seem like everything was going wrong. In these moments I choose to think that it can only get better from that moment. If you are seemingly at your lowest, if you start to think more on the positive side your life will likely start to get better, it’s almost like a placebo effect on your brain. 

Yes, you do have to make choices and improvements for your life to actually start to get better, and for you to start feeling better, but if you are more mindful then hopefully your life would – in reaction to the positive thoughts you’re feeding yourself – become easier. 

Even when you are struggling with something like stress with school or sports, just think about the good side of it like the people it connects you to, and/or how proud you are of how far you’ve come and how much you learned. School and sports are something that I’ve had to romanticize a lot recently because as a senior I’m playing my last year of a sport I’ve grown up playing, and I’m also trying to enjoy one last year with people I have been going to school with for my whole life. If I’m struggling with either I try to shake it off and push through because I will only get to experience those types of moments, not for much longer. I try to embrace all the moments good and bad because soon I won’t even have the chance to have these feelings because this sport and some of these people likely won’t be a part of my life anymore. 

You can romanticize life on a smaller and less sad scale as well. This can be just embracing and holding on to a moment. Thinking and embracing these small moments of joy helps make life more enjoyable. Constantly thinking about the good things in your life helps you think less of the bad parts. An example would be; I have a lot of homework and stress this week, but once I complete this test on Friday, I get to go spend the weekend hanging out with my friends and I’ll be done stressing about it in only three days. Stressing out about something is completely normal but you don’t always have to be stressed about something, give yourself a break, or at least a timeline for your stress.  

Focusing on all the good things in life will make you a happier person. Because no matter what something in your life is going right, even if all you have to embrace is being alive, that is something to romanticize and be grateful for.