It is easy to become disillusioned with the everyday. We wake up, we make coffee, we get ready for the day, and we find ourselves at our desk. The everyday can feel a lot like the everyday, to put it simply. It can be hard to find beauty in these moments sometimes. I know I struggle with it.
This struggle is why the other day we broke early, jumped in the car and headed out to the beach. It was a few hours out, but on a hot day what sounds better than dipping your toes in the ocean? Over the last few weeks, I had no idea how much I had lost sight of the beauty of now. Getting away was the perfect moment to open my eyes to what was already beautiful. I had no idea how glazed over and uninspired I had become with the everyday life. The long hot days here in Raleigh have predominantly been spent at home to escape the heat. It has left me looking past the now and longing for the future. I am looking forward to next month when we will be up north and escaping the heat, but I realized how much I am missing in the right now because of my eyes are set so far ahead.
As we drove out to the beach on the shore of the Atlantic, I tried to focus on that moment. I wanted to remember that there is no running from now, and that is a beautiful thing in and of itself. I stuck my hand out the window, opened the sunroof, and played some favorite music. It felt good to feel and smell something different, but it also reminded me how I need to not overlook our life right now in its strange chaos and the hot days.
When we returned home Monday night, I was frustrated I hadn’t gotten a post completed that I had wanted to, but I let myself off the hook because something more important happened. For the first time in a few weeks, I saw beauty in the everyday bits of our life. Sure, there are stacks of mail that need sorting, things that need to find a place, and a refrigerator that needs some love. The important thing was, I remembered how beautiful the light is during the day in our home and of the way our favorite things pile up in such simple and beautiful ways.
As the rest of this year progresses, I am challenging myself to find beauty in the everyday. It isn’t a new challenge, but I think it is one we all need from time to time. We forget that life in all its imperfections and transitions is amazing and special in its own way. You will see me using the hashtag #fresheveryday as I go through the rest of this year challenging myself to find beauty as moments, things, and people are not how I decide to make them appear but already exist. I believe there is so much beauty we overlook while trying to perfect and curate the world around us, which has its place and time, but we forget that it is just as important to embrace the world as it lies.
Have any of you felt this in your life or had moments where you no longer find inspiration in the day-to-day? I would love for you to join me in this challenge the rest of the year to find those everyday moments and to tag your images with me. I would love to see what you find beautiful in the everyday. My hope is that it gives us a more wide-eyed view of what we most likely overlook each day without realizing we missed something so simple and beautiful.
