The Perfect Day

It’s that time of year again - the days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, there is a holiday buzz in the air that at once brings excitement as well as a sense of overwhelm. The cost of everything from gas to groceries is going up and the list of needs and wants for our loved ones never seems to end.

For any and all of the above reasons, it’s difficult for many to strike a balance or stay focused.

It can be heavy, stressful, exhausting, and for some, even dreadful.

Like a little kid, there is a part of me that is genuinely excited for the holidays in a “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” kind of way. Yet I also find I’m having a tricky time focusing on the good. I admit that I’ve watched too much nightly news and may be a sucker and a sponge for a sad story. And if I’m not careful, I can let the negativity consume me.

So I know I have to carve out some time each day to focus on the good - whether it means I go for a run or jot down a couple of creative sentences or simply just zone out and read a few pages in a book.

Sometimes, though, it’s not enough.

Earlier this week, a friend of mine challenged me to write about the things that bring me joy. “Start simply,” she said. “Begin with the things that would make up the perfect day”.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it’s the simple little things that make a day perfect - and they need not cost a cent. The trick is to simply acknowledge that these little pieces of perfection can exist each day - separately or together - if we just take the time to notice them.

At least… that’s what the exercise has revealed for me.

So here goes - here are my perfect little joyous almost-daily occurrences, my every day miracles:

~A cup of fresh, strong coffee

~A hot shower

~Touching base with my parents through FB video

~The sound of laughter - my own or the sound of someone else’s

~The fragrance of clean laundry right out of the dryer

~Walks with my grand dog Apollo

~Unexpected positive text messages or phone calls from the kids or an acquaintance, mail that isn’t a bill, hugs for no reason

~Completing a task/crossing something off my To Do list

~When a great song comes on the radio/random playlist

~Being out in public and being smiled or waved at by a toddler in a stroller

~Finding a pair of pants in the closet from two winters ago and SCORE! They still fit!

~Surprise extra money in my bank account or in my jacket pocket

~Receiving a kind word or compliment

~Doing something simple and nice for someone else “just because”

~The little buzz that follows that first sip of beer or wine

~Unbuttoning my pants after a big meal

~Removing my bra at the end of the day

~Falling asleep and staying that way for at least two solid hours before waking up to pee

~Feeling the dog curl up at my feet

Does any of this resonate with you? Give you the warm and fuzzies? Cause you to reflect on your own little daily bits and pieces of joy? Make you want to put on some pants and head outside?

If so, and in the same spirit that the offer was made to me, I now offer you the challenge:

What does The Perfect Day look like for you?