Joy in the Ordinary

June 12, 2018

Joy in the Ordinary

Dear Reader,
Ironically, I bought this journal on a day I was feeling particularly grumpy. I did not feel joyous. Especially not about the ordinary. I felt sad. I felt mad. It was a "cry in the greeting card aisle at Target" kind of day. I was gift shopping for a wedding and finding some things for a craft project at school. As I walked into Michael's, clearly a trap waiting for me, I walked past a sign that said: Journals- half price. And I was a sucker. I just love new journals. The anticipation of pages just yearning to be filled with hopes and dreams and adventures. And it beckoned me, "Find joy in the Ordinary". You have to understand friend, that I'm not exactly a seeker of the ordinary. I LOVE joy, I love excitement, I love the "next adventure". Sometimes I spend hours dreaming of new adventures and looking forward to the next thing. Sometimes I simultaneously crave change and excitement and fear it. (I now know it is because I am hopelessly an Enneagram 7 with a 6 wing. Lord, help me, please! For those of you who understand that personality gobbledygook, you will surely see it in my words. And if you don't, you should probably check it out. I'm not kidding. This whole enneagram thing has launched me into a whole new bucket of self-awareness and personal growth. But don't go there unless you want to cry about realizing what you're actually like at your best or your worst...Here's a link if you want to take a test, even thought really you should go read the book. http://www.9types.com/rheti/index.php Ok, longest side note ever... done. )

While it seems I'm constantly on the precipice of another change, there's been something else calling my name this year- the ordinary. And to notice the ordinary, one has to be observant of the ordinary. I am not by nature an observant person. I sometimes get excited about a thought and I forget myself like a three-year-old and forget to wait and let others finish speaking, and I spew it all out instantly. Half the time I don't even notice I did it. But once again, self-awareness is a thing, and I'm working on it. I will literally walk into the lunchroom daily and then one fine May day suddenly proclaim with great excitement, "Did we get a new microwave?!" Only to hear, "Yes....three months ago..." (True Story. If you're southern, go ahead and insert a proper, "bless her heart" here.) Sometimes I just miss it and then suddenly I see something I've been missing all along. Now, the good Lord has seen it fit to put me in a relationship with a very kind and patient man who notices many things I'd otherwise miss. If you could go for a walk with us, you would soon see things you once would have walked by (well, at least that I would have). An animal track, the flutter of a bird, a flower hiding behind some leaves, a lemon flavored ant. (Once again, true story. Yes, I eat lemon flavored ants my boyfriend finds in the woods. Not every girl can be so lucky.) He has been a part of my learning process in this area of my life.

While my little distractible self has missed out on so many ordinary things for so long, slowly but surely in the past year, these things have started to catch my eye. I see a flower in an unusual place and instead of hurrying by, I stop. I take in my surroundings. Like, actually take them in. I notice the smell of the rain that just came pouring in torrents moments ago and its unmistakeably fresh scent of spring and early summer. I notice the house across the street that's brighter than all the others. I notice the perfect white blooms on the tree declaring their new spring style. I notice that I have been too busy and instead of ignoring that icky feeling of overwhelmed busyness, guess what, I've learned to stop. I'm finding that in order to find joy in the ordinary, I first have to notice the ordinary. The things that I pass by daily without a second glance. And let me tell you... I'm still learning. But it's starting. It's like one of these tiny little buds, new flowers I see. It's budding and it's beginning to take root. What I have found in this, friend, is so much peace. So take a moment today. Breathe. If you can't go outside, you can at least look at these lovely spring and summer flower pictures I've taken. Maybe it's noticing someone near you. Maybe something in your house. Find that ordinary, friend. And the find some joy in it.