The stupid things that make us smile
Illustrated by Marie Bailey
We live in quite a world. Riots, disease, war, and global warming: it’s a lot. These are absolutely things we need to address and talk about, but sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming, and we can lose sight of all the beauty and good in the world.
One thing the initial shock of lockdowns brought us in 2020 was a reminder of how much we actually do have to lose. As restrictions lifted, we hugged our friends tighter, appreciated the energy of life, and for once we were happy to stop and smell the flowers.
Over time the smell of the flower has grown dull, and we’ve been thrown back into a fiery wave of cynicism. While cynicism may be well earned, it’s not always the most helpful state to be in; it sure is good at blocking out gratitude. Here are eight silly little things we should take more time to enjoy
Nature
Nature is pretty cool, we really don’t know how long it's gonna last, so we best cherish every damn second we get to spend out there.
Over billions and billions of years, nature has evolved to be the way it is today. Flowers burst with beautiful smells and colours to attract animals. Incredibly complicated systems have formed through evolution to give us what we have today.
Nature is really one of the best things we can appreciate. Even if you’re living in a concrete jungle there are pockets of beauty, clusters of bush or openings of water, and that shit makes city life a little more tolerable.
Covid-19 taught us to appreciate our social lives because we never know when that shit will slip out of our fingertips. Like this, nature is something we could one day lose and God damn we would regret not finding joy in it while we could. Appreciate the bloody trees.
The sky
Technically speaking – yes, the sky is a feature of nature. But it’s almost its own subcategory, because there’s all of space up there. It’s changing all the time, sometimes there are balls of fluff dancing around up there, sometimes it’s completely clear. Other times shades of purple and red blend into a marvelous mess of colour.
Sometimes taking a second to look up at the stars and smile can be what makes living in this world all worth it. Yes, there’s much more to life than just the stars but you gotta embrace any cinematic moment you live through. Plus, stars are like flying glow worms, except they’re giant and on fire; what’s not to find sick about stars?
Colour
We as humans really love colour. Going out creating art, theatre, architecture, fashion, all to appreciate colour. Would the sky or flowers be anywhere as magical if it weren’t for the beautiful colours they show us?
We even have specific colours we like just because of how they look, it’s a very sweet little human thing. Patterns: so fun. Literally just different shapes of colour merging into one to create something we can all appreciate.
Music
Music! Music is so dope, we just yell things at different tones and create literal art? We all have our individual music tastes, and music holds a special place in many people's hearts. It’s a very unique feature that cultures across the globe have embraced in so many different forms.
We’re able to feel soft and fuzzy from the songs of our childhood, or hyped and ready to absolutely party when cranking the right tunes. As humans, we just enjoy music. It’s another one of the pleasures of life that also shouldn’t be taken for granted. As we age, our dancing and hearing abilities fade. So let’s appreciate what we got, while we got it.
You can draw a face on anything
This one is very silly but also great.
We are very visual creatures. One of the most fun ways to play with this is just by drawing a face on anything. You do that and suddenly you can imagine this inanimate object as a lil cartoon living creature. Slap a face on your printer and it suddenly has a personality. You might find a coffee mug with a cute face and the mug is cute. How the fuck do humans have this ability?
Visualisation can be very fun. Maybe it’s a bit childish but why not pretend you’re in a cartoon every now and then. Might as well give all the other cars on the road a persona when you’re stuck driving for hours.
Storytelling
Our ability to bond and laugh over the things we’ve experienced as people is another thing that makes it all worth it. Have you ever been in a situation so tragic that it’s funny? This is because of storytelling, when tragic things happen, we know it will at least turn into a good story in a couple of weeks.
One of the biggest ways we bond is through sharing our experiences or other people's stories. We understand things better when we’re told anecdotes, or when we have to put our experiences into words when sharing them. It’s a very exciting feature of life, especially when we surround ourselves with the right people.
Talents
You could be the next Picasso if you really wanted to.
We literally can fine tune anything we want to. Might be bloody hard, some things will be harder to us than to others, but if you actually were willing to put the time in, you could theoretically do anything.
One of the most exciting feelings is getting into a long-time hobby and looking at your performance in comparison to when you started. If you know how to play the guitar, anytime you go have fun on that ol’ thing, you can literally see how much you’ve grown just by watching yourself play things you never would have been able to when you first started. The same goes for any other skill you might learn.
Little You would probably be very impressed with what talents you have, even if you just see them as basic.
We kinda live in a sand box video game
Nothing in life matters. One day everything you do will be forgotten, most of the things you already have done probably have been forgotten already.
Honestly, one of the most fun ways to make your boring, sometimes mildy grim, life a little better is to just pretend it’s all a video game. Nothing we do will really matter in the long run, so you might as well live like it.
You cooking a dinner? Boom bitch, it’s time to play Papa’s Pizzeria. You in a boring ass class? Nah man, we’re just playing Sims: University Life.
There are also literal studies which show that workers are more efficient when playing work like it’s a game. Foldit is a game where you can play around with molecular structures. This game has led to freaking gamers solving things that scientists spent years struggling with. A real-world problem with a “game” mindset can make things much easier for our little brains to handle.
Kinda like the whole skill thing, you just level up as a person, do your thing and slowly complete more quests and get more loot. Maybe it’s a slightly materialistic outlook but we might as well have fun while living in our fleshy person prisons.
Focusing on life's bright sides is always important alongside addressing real issues with real implications. Yes, the world is looking kinda grim at the moment, but it would be a shame for things to end without appreciating what we can, while we can.