Chatterbox: Chirp at Cricket

time for some optional hugs and muffins, wouldn't you say? *offers them*

There's so much going on, all the time, so much stuff to see and explore and think about and deal with. Some of it's good, some of it's bad. Sometimes the bad stuff seems to take priority and drown out all the good stuff. It's easy to dwell on it, to sit down and stare at all that darkness and not realize that the light is shining right behind you. That's why it's important to take a moment, once in a while, to turn around and sit and stare at all that light instead. The kind of light that makes you realize just how special you are and, more importantly, how amazing the whole world is. It's so amazing that it has a place for every single person, including you; a place and a path (you can call it destiny, if you will). Things seem bad, inside your head and outside it. Yeah, maybe they are bad. But hang on a second. Watch the next glorious sunset there is and let yourself realize that there'll always be sunsets, no matter what. Listen to a birdsong if there are any birds around and realize that there'll always be life. Smell something that's evocative of a good thing or just the smell you love best in the world, and realize that there'll always be something comforting to cling to. Unplug for a bit - realize that the world is big and beautiful and so, so full of happiness. Realize that it cares about you. Maybe even realize that you care about it. Even if everything you see is bad, there'll always be something just a little beyond that that's drenched in laughter and sunlight. And by being here, you contribute a little bit to that. Do something nice for others - hug someone you love, make the effort to look for the nice side of someone you dislike, plant a tree (that's doing something nice for the tree, fyi) - and feel how you're in a world consisting not just of contrasting whites and blacks and a few murky grays, but of explosions of color.

I know that some of you might be going through a lot of things, and I hope this doesn't come across as preachy - just a reminder if you feel you need it, because I really have found it to be true. Thanks for reading all this long post, and *more hugs* to all of you, whether you are or aren't going through rough times <33