“You have to start romanticizing your life. You have to start thinking of yourself as the main character, because if you don’t life will continue to pass you by. And all the little things that make it so beautiful will continue to go unnoticed, so take a second and look around and realize that it’s a blessing for you to be here right now.” -Ashley Ward on TikTok

This concept of making yourself the main character sometimes seems impossible to reach. Life gets in the way, we are too serious, we are too humble, we are too anxious, and I could go on and on. But, when we take the less pressing things in life out of the forefront, we can work more closely with ourselves on learning how to love the life we have in front of ourselves.

So, I’ll tell you all how I have been using this concept of romanticizing my life and been attempting to put it into practice. First, I should probably throw it out there that I am not the type to do things on a whim. I like to have plans and I think I work best when I am able to have control. However, as we all know, life will throw you curveballs on a daily basis, and control is something that we don’t always have the luxury of holding on to. This past year, I have really been working on letting God have control over my life while I sit in the passenger seat, even on days when I want to be able to control every single aspect of my life. And want to know a secret? I am starting to love my life more now that I am less focused on being in control.

This realization really hit me this past semester as I was sitting in the library with two of my friends as we attempted to do our homework while sitting at the same table with gallons of caffeine in front of us. Spoiler alert, we did not get much work done. However, the days I spent in the library with them were some of my favorite memories from this semester. We laughed at ourselves and talked so loudly that the other tables definitely knew too much about our lives (don’t worry, we were in the Starbucks, so we weren’t really bothering anyone). But it was in those moments where I realized that no one is concerned with what you are doing. No one really cared about us making noise or distracting each other, everyone was busy doing their own thing.

This is such a simple realization looking back, but freshman year me would never cause any type of scene in a public place because I felt uncomfortable about what others thought. But, two years later I have come to realize that people are so consumed in what others think about them, they don’t even have time to really think through what you may be doing. 

So then the question remains, why not love the life you live?

We are only given one life, so why do we seem to spend so much time picking out the right clothes to impress others, or learning the right things to say to get the job? Why don’t we stop trying to be what we think everyone wants from us and just be our true selves, no matter how weird we may be. Why don’t we begin to be honest with ourselves and live how we want to, because at the end of life, no one else’s opinions or thoughts will be coming with us, so what better time to romanticize our lives then right now!?

So, to the girl who is romanticizing her life, it’s kind of riveting isn’t it? I think it is. I am making decisions solely for myself, with or without the recognition of others. Go and post the picture you have been debating posting for the last 3 days (we all do it). Tell the people in your life how much they mean to you. Make every single moment count. Make the life you are living one you love so when you wake up every day you are genuinely excited for whatever may come… I dare you.