Words in Forests

So, I'm going through a rough patch.

That's the understatement of the century.

Have you ever noticed how when the sky suddenly turns gray, its like the entire planet gets depressed? And it literally happens over night! That's what happened to me today. Yesterday I was alright with the world. And today, with the overcast and the rain, I feel like everything has shifted.

And then I called my friend and poured out my heart to her, tears and all. And she gave me some sound advice:

"Find the things that make you happy, and do them."

So, I sat for about five minutes and finally figured out what makes me happy, that isn't related to relationships (alteration intended).

Once I figured it out, it wasn't that hard to know what to do next.

And so, here I sit, doing what makes me happy. I'm pouring my over-active and over-reactive brain out in black and white, for the world and its entirety to see.

I love to write. Not because I love to see myself as a writer, or to have my ideas in front of people. I truly enjoy writing because its like an enormous jig saw puzzle. The finished picture is the idea I'm trying to communicate, and words are my puzzle pieces. Once the writing is done, the pieces in place, the puzzle has been completed and the idea is out there. But its the figuring out how to string words together that holds the appeal.

Its kind of like painting. Every word is a different brush stroke, every sentence a different color. And hopefully, the artist is good enough to not leave a Jackson Pollock in their wake. More like a Rembrandt, or, for the more colorful, a Renoir.

Tree Swings make me happy. I'm not entirely sure why....maybe there is still a small piece of me that remembers how much fun it was as a child to be wound up in one and told 'hang on'!

I love forests. The greenery and smell of pine and oak and wet dirt just after it rains...ahhhhh. Its those moments when I'm alone, and the world is quiet, that nature becomes my cathedral, the rocks the pews, the trees the columns, and the leaves the steeple. Its peaceful and quiet, and I can think.

Music. Nothing lifts my mood more then singing at the top of my lungs to some song, or the latest Lindsey Stirling violin solo.

And when I start to think about these things, the things I love, life suddenly doesn't seem nearly as bleak or rough. Suddenly, you're counting your blessings, and the sky lightens just a little.

So, for now, I'll be over here writing in the forest on my tree swing, listening to Lindsey Stirling, and thinking about the things that make me smile, with the people who brighten life that much more.