As I said in my May Favorites, I had read the book "Seriously... I'm kidding" by Ellen Degeneres. It was a funny book to read, and Ellen talk about a lot of things, both funny and serious. Even if it is serious things she talks about she still manage to twist it to something funny, and when you finished the chapter you would be left with a feeling like "I have no idea if she just meant all of that".
One of the chapters called "The secret of life - part two" (part one, had one word on the page: "kale") really got me thinking about one of the big questions in life;" What is the maning of all of this? How should we live?" And Ellen ask the same questions in this chapter.
We will all seach for to find the secret of life, what makes most sense to each and one of us. As Ellen says it;
"It's the most important thing in the world; money. No, I'm sorry, not money. Happiness. That's what I meant - happiness. And once you find happiness, you've pretty much uncovered the secret." - Ellen
When I started this blog I was in a place in my life. I had a lot of friends, and I felt love all around me, my school work was going great and I had found time to do homework while I still had time to do things I like to do myself. I'm happy when I can do the things I like to do in my spare time and I truly can get deep into a thing, I can't get fully into a thing if I know I have a lot of homework waiting for me.
And at that time I had found a system that worked for me, so I could really focus on the things that i liked; writing, drawing, painting, reading ect.
That's how I felt truly happy, but you might experience happiness differently. My friend feel realxed when she is outside or riding her horse. My boyfriend loves it when he plays music. Some people feel happy when they play computergames, other like to bake a cake and discover new recipes. No matter what makes you happy, you will find it one day.
When I was happy I felt like my life was in balance. I'm still happy, no doubt on that. But I'm in a stressed time at the moment, it is time for all the exams, still planning everything for London, get everything packed, leaving school, keeping contacts with friends. Everythig is a bit too much.
But remember one thing; everyone has hard times, and that does not mean that you are not happy.
When we are stressed or in a hard time we just have to look a little closer to see our happiness. If I was on my deathbed I would for sure say that I had lived a happy life - yes I'm stressed, but all the happy moments is what count the most.
How should we live our life? Some people mean that we should live each day as it was our last, because then we would appreciate everything. Other means that we should live every day as it was our first.
If we lived like that, that each day was our first, everyday would be the beginning of a new journey. Then we would see the world like babies, everything would be new, exciting and interesting. We would get facinated by the flowers we walked by on our way to school, when we look up in the sky and see an airplane we would think about how it is possible to fly. We would wonder a lot and in the end of the day we would be happy - happy for all the things we had discovered that day.
"For some reason as we get older, we lose that sense of wonder. We get jaded. I don't know when it happens exactly, bit I think it's sometime between finding out the tooth fairy doesn't excist and realizing the Real Houswives are neither real nor housewivies" - Ellen
And I think Ellen is right. Not about the housewives and the tooth fairy, but about that we lose the wonder. We forget to look around and enjoy and appreciate all the little things. Maybe that is why we should live as our last, then we would notice these things and begin to appreciate.
After I have begun to like photographing, I look a lot at photos to find inspiration, and the kind of photos that I like is often the smallest details on buildings, a patern a shadow makes ect. And when I look around now I begin to see all of these things myself, and it makes it much funnier to walk around.
There would be nothing to lose, if we lived like it was our last day, everyday. I think we need to remember that, or i certainly do. When I'm about to have an exam, and my heart is bumping heart in my chest, we need to remember we have nothing to lose. Yes, school and education is imporatnt, and of course I want good grades, and I do my best. But because I do my best I should not be nervous. I'm sure I can get a great life too, even if all my grades is not A's. Look at our parents, the requirements are much higher for us today, than it probably was for them.
"So let that be a lesson, kids who get an F in math. Ellen says you're doing the right thing. You're welcome, parents" - Ellen
We would not be afraid to speak. Words is important, and you have a chance to get your voice heard.
I like to write, even if only 20 people read this, or any of my other post, someone heard what I had to say. You only have this one life, so make you words count. Often the words we regret the most, are often the words we left unsaid. Maybe not do as Ellen says in this case:
"I bet we'd all be a lot more honest with people, because we wouldn't have to care what people think anymore. We would meet a friend for lunch and blurt "Hey, that's an ugly hat!" - Or if you break up with someone you would finally tell them "I just want you to knoe, it's not me. It's you"" - Ellen
You would take more chances and I think that is an important thing to do. I wrote a blogpost on second chances a few weeks ago, as it is something that have had a huge impact on my life lately. And that I took that chance, is now a reason I'm happy (Read it here).
It don't have to be big chances like that, don't jump out of a plane or walk on the middle of the street. start in the small.
"Eat an apple without washing it first. Answer your phone even though the numer calling is "unknown". Wait only twenty-seven minutes to swim after you eat. Do whatever you think is risky" - Ellen
If we take chances and risks we will either fail or succes. We will only know succes, if we have tried to fail, we will learn from our mistakes.
Maybe it doesn't matter if you live like it is your first or last day, the point is that you live, not just excist. Enjoy everyday. Don't look back, live now, look around and see all of the pretty things around you. Smile, take a deep breath, because this blogpost was a big one, and maybe it wouls just be easier to say like Ellen did in part one:
The secret of life: Kale.
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