Life

I just got home a bit ago from an early birthday celebration, it was such a good night. It's pretty late right now (230am). I had anticipating the festivities to come to a close around 10 maybe 11 at the latest, but fortunately I got to enjoy my friends company for longer.

As part of my nightly ritual before I go to sleep, I tend to wind down by checking fb, watching some youtube clips and/or chatting. It's pretty quiet right now - seems everyone is asleep. When I logged into fb, I noticed on the home page that a friend of mine just lost one of her best friends, he was not even thirty.

Life isn't always what we expect.... I go about life with plans yet those plans although set aren't a guarantee. I find when someone passes away, it puts life into perspective again (i'm sure this happens with many). I begin thinking about my priorities and where they currently fall in my life.

The main priorities in my life are my relationships (family, friends), school (which is pretty much my career) and my own self care. In general, I tend to get wrapped up in school work and become less focused on myself and my relationships. The first sacrifice tends to be sleep... it's just the easiest thing to cut but so detrimental when you're not getting enough sleep (given that's it's 240am, i'm not on a roll with this). I would love to get at least 7 hours a night of sleep but that seems like such a far reach when there's so much external pressures. With family and friends, I'm not able to visit as much as I would like. I love school but I really want to find that balance.

While I was thinking about my priorities in my life, I had this idea of googling the words "life" and "priorities."

When I google imaged the word life, this image was the first to appear..

This picture is really fitting... what's better than making the most of life by living, laughing and loving. By living life you're making the most of it - so that when you die - you made something of your life. By laughing you're ensuring that your life is filled with joy. I actually have this goal of making one of my friends laugh really hard - a step above a rofl (rolling on the floor laughing) or rosl (rolling on the seat laughing) lol. I think she's winning so far but it's hard to really know how much she's laughing at something when we're chatting online. Last but certainly not least, by loving others, you're filling your life with such a beautiful experience. I dont think there's any greater feeling than loving someone and I dont just mean romantic, platonic love as well is really beautiful. I'd like to add to this image with acceptance... although I think this is implied in love. By accepting others, we're opening ourselves to a wealth of opportunity to meet amazing people. I know that since I've become more accepting I've met people that I wouldn't have otherwise had I been the type to easily judge others. The way I see it is I dont want to be judged for who I am or what I believe, so why would I judge another, just wouldn't make sense.

when I google imaged the word priorities, this image was the first to appear...

At first I thought to myself, what a boring picture... then I thought, no wait a second .. this makes sense. People prioritize priorities, this is great to do. I think the problem lies (at least a problem I've experienced) in which priority is high, medium or low. During my Masters (less so now due to some circumstances) school was my highest priority - above my own self care, my relationships, etc. then I realized that school isn't my entire life, that my other priorities are just as if not more important. I mean what is life if there's no one to share it with...or what is life if you're not healthy enough to experience it.

So my priorities aren't going to change but the level of priority is changing. School will continue to be a high priority but it will not be so when it is at the expense of my other priorities.

As self care is a high priority, I should sleep now.

Here's to Living, Laughing, Loving and to knowing where your priorities should fall.