The Best Part of Waking Up

So, to be completely honest, this was originally going to be a post about coffee since today is National Coffee Day here in the US. However, as I was writing it, it felt too much like a writing assignment and I lost all interest in continuing it; so I deleted it. I'm keeping the title because I feel it actually fits this post better.

So, what's the best part of waking up? The fact that I did. My life is one continual journey of misadventures and glorious accidents. It's so full of adventure and twists and turns that even I have a hard time believing some of the things that have come to past. So each morning (or evening, depending on if I'm working or not) is a brand new chance for extraordinary events to unfold.

Now, don't get me wrong-there are plenty of days that have been filled with monotony and boredom. Weeks of pure mundanity that pass without much notice. C'est la vie, which is French for "such is life". Yet there are other days and weeks where there isn't a shred of normalcy that occurs and you just embrace the whirlwind of life.

Slightly off topic, but my favorite Christmas movie is It's a Wonderful Life. Sure, that sounds cliché, but I see a lot of myself in George Bailey and the depression he struggles with throughout the movie is a battle I am all too familiar with. All poor George wants to be is an engineer and travel the world. Yet nothing goes according to the plan that he has in his head and you see it weigh further and further on his mind as the story progresses. What happens instead, in the darkest period of his life, is a miracle so profound that he finally realizes what a truly wonderful life that he does have. So every Cheistmas season I'm reminded that, even though nothing is or has been going along with where my mental plan for my life; it truly is a remarkable one and one worth continuing to live.

So, my dear readers, I encourage you, to take the first five to ten minutes of your morning and be grateful for having another day to take a stab at life. Regardless of what happened the previous day, each dawn is a chance to start things anew and make things right. And, before you go to sleep at night, stop and think of at least five things that did go right throughout the course of your day. Because even the worst of days had something good happen in it. Even if it was just the chance to wake up and live it.