There’s a beautiful lake close to my apartment, with nice chairs on the East side. I like to go there for sunset with a Topochico and sip my fizzy drink while I watch the light shimmer on the water and colors migrate across the sky. 

I don’t know why, but this little self-contained experience is like a miniature vacation. Some strange part of my brain says if I’m having a pleasant drink while watching a beautiful sunset then I must be doing okay in life. This is hilarious because most of the time my life feels like an absolute dumpster fire. My life isn’t different when I’m at the lake, it’s just easier for me to feel like I’m doing okay.

Do you have places or activities that reinforce you in ways like this? Maybe it’s certain people or hobbies that pull you out of your own head. Not that they make you feel like a rockstar, but the negative voices that usually bother you stay away for some reason. I ask because I think it’s healthy to make a habit of doing things like this. Visiting the cat cafe in my city is another example. It’s hard to feel bad when I’m giving pets and kisses to a nice cat who’s had a hard life. Sipping coffee in a cafe and people-watching is another example (minus the kissing of strangers who have had a hard life).

In self-improvement, it’s easy to obsessively allocate every second of your day to one goal or another. It’s easy to forget to smell the roses and not take time for little things. But if you know small things that make you feel good about yourself, or offer an escape from negative self-talk, or simply pull you out of your head…can you create a habit of doing them? It is a special kind of self-care. And if you spend a lot of time cracking the whip over your own head, you probably need this as much as I do.

You don’t have to work every second of every day. You’re allowed to enjoy little moments, and I think we should both do it more. When we get to the end, we’ll be glad we did.

Further Reading: If this resonated with you then I highly recommend the Waking Up app by Sam Harris. These little moments of being present really are gifts, and learning mindfulness lets you cherish them more often. Life is short, when are you going to start enjoying it?