How to make your life feel magical, even if you hate it right now

Let me start this blog post by saying that I fully understand that each of us goes through different hardships in life and to please take my words with a grain of salt, as I am not a trained professional, just a girl who´s gone through rough times & hardships, but came out on the other side with lots of new life lessons learned. Having that said, as a girly who tries to romanticize every little bit of life (the good, the bad and the ugly), I wanted to talk about what I have learned in my 25 years on this planet about how to make your life feel magical (even if you hate it right now).

Grab yourself a warm cup of coffee or tea, get your coziest blanket and enjoy reading ^^

1. GRATITUDE

Most of us probably feel like we are grateful people. We say thank you when we get a gift, we are there for our loved ones when they need us and we make do with what we have, but gratitude goes so much deeper than that. It is feeling the miracle of being alive in its purest form, it is feeling truly thankful for every little thing you have. From being able to breathe on your own (a privilege not all of us have), to be able to use your hands and fingers, legs and feet, your eyes and ears. Feeling gratitude for the roof over your head, the sun, the moon, the sky,...

I used to struggle with crippling anxiety and about 5 years ago, I started writing down 5-10 things I am grateful for every day. I started out not being able to think of even 2 things to be grateful for and oftentimes I would just write down anything to be done with the task (When I start doing something, I get super determined lol), but I started noticing a huge shift in myself after about 2 weeks of doing this.

It felt less like a chore and I started automatically looking for all of the blessings around me, without even noticing! I began seeing things I have never even given a second thought to before, like actually feeling in awe of the way flower petals looked and genuinely waking up so much happier about life in general. Back then I was broke, in a waitressing job I did not like and living in a tiny 30m2 apartment with my boyfriend and our dog. It was Covid, I had lung problems and an eating disorder and I know for a fact that without writing down my gratitude every day during that time, I would have been miserable, but I was the happiest I had ever been in my life.

Fast forward five years and although a lot has happened (including hard things), I overcame my eating disorder, no longer struggle with crippling anxiety or lung problems and I am grateful every day for the version of me 5 years ago who decided to start practicing to be grateful for her life.

Here´s a how-to guide on how I personally started incorporating gratitude into my daily life:

1. Write down what you´re grateful for and why ( the "why" is also a super important part)

2. Write at least 5-10 different things, this could be something as simple as having a roof over your head, or a phone to call loved ones with

3. Repeat each written gratitude to yourself and out loud, put your hand on your heart and feel as grateful for that thing as you can.

4. Say Thank you, thank you, thank you to the thing, or if you believe in God, or a higher power, direct the gratitude to them.

Example:

I am beyond grateful for my dog, because he gives me joy

I am so grateful for my bed, because it gives me a comfy place to sleep every day

I am beyond blessed for being able to do groceries every day, because I get to choose what I want to eat

I am so grateful for my family, because they are always there for me

I am beyond grateful for my eyes, because I get to see all the beauty in this world

It´s okay if this feels super strange at first, or if you don´t feel a lot of gratitude when you start off (I´ve been there too), but if you keep going and writing down what you´re grateful for every day, something will shift and it´ll become easier each time <3

I had this yoga teacher who once said that you can do anything for 5 minutes and that has stuck with me! If you are super busy, you could even do your daily gratitude in your head whenever you have time, but it´s also totally okay if you miss out on a few days, weeks or months (we´re all human), most important is just to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again (iykyk).

2. Read more Books

Sometimes, when life gives you lemons, turn them into a fantasy book and forget about real life for a while lol. (halfway kidding haha)

I started getting back into reading not very long ago (about 2-3 years), but it has truly changed my life. There´s something about books that help me notice the world around me more. Maybe because of the way scenery is describes in such detail in most books...

Especially getting into fantasy and romance novels has made me feel like there´s so much magic in the world!

Another thing I love is reading fantasy books specifically written for teens and young adults. There´s a lightheartedness about those kinds of books, which you can´t usually find in adult books and something I would recommend anyone to try!

3. Quit Watching the News!

This might be a bit of a controversial take, but I truly believe that we were not meant to know about all of the horrible things that are happening in this world (especially if we can´t change anything about them.) Negativity sells and there´s almost never a point in which we hear positive things in mainstream news outlets, which can be so damaging to our mental health in my opinion.

Usually we hear about the most important things through others either way, so we realistically stay informed, weither or not we watch the news ourselves.

Your peace of mind is so important. You are worthy of happiness and if that means cutting out the news, then that is completely valid and doesn´t make you any less intelligent or worthy <3

4. Watch animated (princess) movies

I´ll never stop watching Disney princess movies haha.

If there´s one thing that helps me romanticize life and get that carefree feeling, it´s watching animated (disney princess) movies ^^

You´ll find me on my cozy sofa in the living room watching disney movies until I´m 80 lol

5. Romanticize every little moment

Romanticizing life can look like taking a moment to feel the warm steam on your face before you take a sip of your tea, or putting on a cute dress to do something simple like running errands, making your home feel as cozy as possible, putting on ambience videos when you do chores, or read a book... Anything that makes the small moments feel a little more like a special occasion ^^

That was all for today! Thank you sooo much for reading and I´m sorry for my lack of new posts recently... I´m starting to get into my routine again, but I´m so grateful you´re here x

I´d love to know if there´s anything you´d add to the list! Let me know in the comments section!