The Wildflower Journal

The Joy That’s Already Here

I think sometimes we get so caught up waiting for the big moments that we completely miss the life happening right in front of us.

We tell ourselves we’ll be happy when we’ve achieved the goal, when we’ve got more money, when we’ve healed, when we’ve lost the weight, when we’ve found the relationship, when work settles down, when the house is sorted, when life finally stops being such a pain in the arse.

But there’s always going to be another when.

And I’m starting to realise that some of the happiest moments of my life aren’t actually the big ones at all. They’re ridiculously ordinary.

It’s that first drink in the morning when nobody has annoyed me yet. 😂 It’s Ella doing something completely stupid and making me laugh. It’s Lissie coming out with something that catches me completely off guard, or those random little moments together that probably wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else but mean everything to me. It’s hearing a song I love and having a little dance around the kitchen. It’s getting into fresh bedding after a shower. It’s the sun coming through the window. It’s laughing so hard with somebody that your stomach hurts. It’s looking up and realising the sky looks absolutely beautiful.

None of those things are particularly exciting when you write them down. Nobody is handing out awards for successfully enjoying a cup of coffee.

But that’s the point.

We spend so much time thinking happiness is this destination we’re eventually going to reach that we forget happiness is scattered throughout completely normal days.

And I don’t mean forcing yourself to be grateful for everything either. Sometimes life is shit. Sometimes you’re sad, angry, exhausted or just completely fed up, and I’m never going to be the person telling you to slap a positive affirmation over something that genuinely hurts.

You can have difficult things happening in your life and still have a lovely ten minutes.

You can be grieving and laugh at something stupid.

You can be stressed and still enjoy the warmth of the sun on your face.

You can have absolutely no idea what you’re doing with your life and still dance around your kitchen.

One doesn’t cancel out the other.

I think that’s something I’ve had to learn. For a long time, happiness felt like something that would arrive once everything else was sorted. But life doesn’t really work like that. There will probably always be something unfinished, something uncertain or something I’m working through.

So I don’t want to postpone enjoying my life until I’ve somehow managed to create a perfect one.

I want to notice it now.

The quiet mornings. Lissie making me laugh. Ella being Ella. The stupid jokes. The good food. The music. The conversations that make you smile at your phone. The people you love simply being there. The unexpected moments where you suddenly think, actually, this is really bloody nice.

Because maybe those aren’t the little bits between the important moments.

Maybe they are the important moments.

One day, Lissie won’t be wandering around the house every day. Life will change, because that’s what it does. And I know there’ll come a time when I’d give anything to have some of these completely ordinary days back. That’s probably the biggest reminder for me to actually be present for them while they’re happening.

We don’t need every day to be life-changing. We don’t need every experience to teach us something profound. We don’t need to turn every sunset into a spiritual awakening.

Sometimes a good moment can just be a good fucking moment.

And I think I’d quite like a life filled with those.

So today, I’m not waiting for something extraordinary to happen before I decide it’s a good day.

I’m looking for the ordinary joy that’s already here.

I notice the joy already here.

Nova Rising Soul x