Ordinary Awesomeness

Have you ever noticed all the tiny little things that make life awesome? It turns out that the more you notice, the better you feel.

Your brain, of course, wants to notice all the things that have gone wrong, but there are just as many things that have gone exactly right and it can feel really good to bring your awareness to them.

In today’s episode of the podcast, I’ll remind you of how fun it is to like things, teach you what you can learn from the U-curve of happiness, give you a daily practice to help you pay attention to the small but significant pleasures of your life, and make my own little tribute to some of the ordinary things in my life that I think are seriously awesome.

Sometimes our brains can miss the spectacular awesomeness that can be found in the most ordinary things in our lives and this episode is all about inspiring you to see them again for the first time. 

Transcript

Welcome to the 100% Awesome podcast with April Price. You might not know it, but every result in your life is 100% because of the thoughts you think. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome.

Hello podcast universe, welcome to episode 259 of the 100% Awesome Podcast. I'm April Price and I want to welcome you to this episode of the podcast. I'm actually recording this on a Friday night. That is not my usual Friday night activity, but my husband and I are about to head to Costa Rica. I think last week in the episode, I mentioned that as you were hearing it, I was going to be on the ocean and I'm just recording this episode so that I can get it to my editor before I leave. And so, we just finished packing. I'm headed out super early in the morning, and I thought I would record a really quick episode for you here before I go. So, I just want to warn you, from the outset, I didn't do my usual prep for this podcast. I usually make like a pretty detailed outline and really think it through. And this one I like opened up the notes section of my phone. I was like, you know, made a few bullet points and I was like, we're just gonna go, it's gonna be completely off the cuff and hopefully it will kind of come together.

But I have been just thinking a lot about, as you know, are you probably sick of hearing it by now? But as you know, I just turned 50. And so, my mind has just been thinking about life and thinking about the experience of being alive. And I wanted to just do a little episode about the awesomeness of life. Now, I know that there are so many challenges for all of us, and I know there are so many difficulties, and I don't want to, like, pretend that those things don't exist. But I also think that sometimes it's important just to notice that like lots of good, sweet, amazing, awesome things also exist. And because of my birthday and because of, you know, just all of the reminiscing and contemplation that I've done over the last few weeks, my mind has also done a lot of thinking about just how lucky I feel to be here and to be alive, and just how lucky we all are, and that there are some really amazing, awesome things. And and I just thought today that it might be good to just highlight it, and I hope that it will kind of inspire you to sort of look around your own life, even with your stress and even with your pain, and even with the difficulties and the challenges you face, like there are lots of things that are still awesome.

And I just hope this inspires you to just kind of let yourself find joy in those things and find happiness in them. So, you might have heard of this idea of the you curve of happiness, which is kind of this idea that throughout our lifetime, the amount of happiness that we feel can kind of kind of resembles the shape of a you curve, meaning that like, we feel really pretty happy as babies, toddlers, young children, like we have high levels of happiness. And then that kind of like decreases as we go through middle age. And we hit kind of the bottom of that. You curve at around 40 is what these studies kind of show. And then as we get older and as we age, then that you curve starts to go back up and we start to find more and more happiness as we age. And what's interesting about this, in a lot of studies, they find that, you know, it doesn't even matter if you're not healthy when you're older or if you are in the best financial situation, you can still actually have much more happiness at the end of your life than you do in midlife.

And now that's maybe not necessarily the personal experience that you're having, right? You might be in your 40s and loving it, or you might have had a really sad, challenging childhood and you didn't experience a lot of happiness then. And I'm not trying to like, say that these studies are, like, anecdotal for every single person, every single human. But this is kind of just this like generalization. And it seems like lately I've heard a lot about this idea, this kind of you curve of happiness and I heard one person talking about it who was saying, you know, one of the reasons that they think that this occurs both at the beginning of our life and then at the end of our life, is because of our tendency in both of these areas of our life to live in the present and to just be really amazed and enjoy the wonder and the joy in a present moment, rather than looking behind or looking ahead. When you think about children, they are very present, right? They're worried about what is happening right now, and they're really thinking about like next week or next month or or next year like that. It's usually they're living, you know, in the present, especially young children. And they find that for older people as they approach those older years in their lives because they said that actually, the closer you get to death, the less scared you are of it. Because it's just starting to become a reality.

And they were saying that like in those years, you become much more present as well because, you know, none of it is guaranteed and you know that you won't be here forever. And so you focus so much more on the present moment. And I think that whether or not this is like fundamentally, scientifically true, and if we can prove it, I think it is a valuable thought for all of us to consider that we experience most of our pain in our minds when we're either like reliving the past or trying to anticipate and worry about the future, and that we can find much more joy and satisfaction and contentment by embracing the present. And I think that's a really powerful lesson for all of us to think about, that I can actually increase the amount of joy I'm having in my life by. Coming to the moment that I'm in, appreciating the moment that I'm in, noticing the things about the moment that I'm in, rather than like jumping ahead or scrolling through the past. And that kind of reminds me of this guy, Neil Pasricha. And I might be saying his last name wrong, but I've told you about him before. I had a really challenging time in his life.

I think he'd lost a job, and then he lost a close friend who died by suicide. And, you know, he was just really struggling to find any joy in his life. And so he started this project. And I know that I've told you about it before, but I just as I was thinking about this idea about being present and noticing the ordinary awesomeness of our lives, I was reminded again of his project and what he did is he decided, like, I'm going to do a blog post. He made one every weekday, and he said, I'm going to find a thousand things that are awesome, a thousand little things that are awesome, that that mostly go unnoticed. And I'm going to make myself once a day again. He just publishes his blog on on the weekdays, but for a thousand weekdays he made himself notice things that were awesome, and he called this blog thousand Awesome Things. And he became a really famous blogger and he had a lot of followers, and eventually a publisher wanted to talk to him about this, and they published it into a book. And he has lots of books that he's written since then about happiness and about different things. But I loved this idea of like making your brain notice. Every day like something that you love, something that is beautiful or awesome, or something that is just like. Like you just feel like so lucky that this is a thing that is part of your human experience. And so as I was thinking about that and like, I guess being a little bit indulgent with myself for my birthday, I just decided, like, I'm just gonna make a list.

I'm gonna make a list of 50 things that I just think are like, awesome. And as I was doing this, I'll just give you a little caveat, because I think you should all do this. You know, keep a list in your phone of things that you just think are awesome. And every time you see it, you could just add to that list. But even as I went to make it, I was like, oh, this is really hard. Like, what if I forget my very favorite things, right? Like, what if I do this list and everybody's like, well, what about this? And what about this? And what about this? And sometimes, like, we get a little intimidated about doing something like this because we feel like I have to remember everything and I have to remember everyone, and it just can be kind of overwhelming.

And I want you to, like, do this exercise just for fun and just for the joy of it, and just to kind of create an ongoing, continuous list that you can just always add to when you notice the small, ordinary awesomeness of your life. So I made this list. It is not all inclusive. It was just like things that came to my mind as I was kind of contemplating this idea and I was like, oh, I love this. This is one of my favorite things. This is one of the things that that I think is just awesome about human life. So, for what it's worth, I'm going to read you my list. And I actually ended up with way more than 50 because I was like, oh, what about this? And what about this? But I thought it would be fun today just to go through it. And I'm just doing it to like. Have you, like, kind of share in my enjoyment of these things. And also, more importantly, remember the things that you think are awesome and and start to take note of them. Okay, so I'm going to try to read through them pretty quick because it's a long list.

And I know you don't want a lot of story about each one, but the first one I wrote down is mail. Like mail is awesome. I've always found it fascinating that I can just put this little sticker like on one side of the country, and it will go anywhere. It will go anywhere in the world. Like somebody is going to like, make all the effort to fly it and drive it and walk it to somebody else's mailbox. Like, it's freaking amazing, right? Eating lunch in the sun. Oh my gosh. I love sitting on my back porch and eating lunch in the sun. Clean sheets, is there anything better than getting in a bed with clean sheets? I love that feeling. Hot showers. Oh my gosh, I love a hot shower. This is my favorite thing in the world. Walks with Auggie like I love going on my morning walks with Auggie. Like that sound, the little patter of his little like claws, his little toenails as they hit the sidewalk. I love that little patter sound. And like, I love watching his little nose. And it's always like I always imagine him, like, trying to learn the story.

Like he's sniffing, sniffing, sniffing. And he's like. And I'm like, okay, Auggie we got to move on. And he's like, no, no, no, there's more story, right? He's just like, I gotta find out the end of this story. And I just love the way his nose just like, scrunches up and just is like, so, so involved and so loving it. I love birdsong. Like I know a lot of people think birds are scary, but I. I love birdsong and I love how unique they are. I love how loud they are. I love like, I just love that that is a part of our world. Um, the next one I wrote is macaroni salad. I have so many, like, childhood memories. Like really sweet, lovely childhood memories with macaroni salad. And. Yeah, it's just fun, right? Um. I love how smell and memory are so connected, right? Like you smell a smell, and you just remember, like, my daughter just visited for my birthday, and she got out of the car and the orange blossoms were, like, blooming. And she's like, I'm immediately transported to our backyard. We're eating on the on the outside table. We're having, you know, we're having dinner outside on the back table.

And she's like, you're immediately transported. I love that our brains do that. I also love songs and memories. How like you can hear a song and just be like, right back in your ninth grade gymnasium, right? Um, I love fire, I love, I love sitting by a fire. I love watching it. I love the sound of it. I love the smell of it. Like there's just nothing better. Uh, the smell of sunscreen. Like, all my best memories are associated with the smell of sunscreen. Um, I love hymns. Like, I know, that's kind of. Maybe that's not very like that. Maybe that's an unpopular opinion, but, like, it just does something inside of me. When I hear a hymn being played on an organ, especially I. Oh my gosh, I love that. I love the variety of trees. I know that I've talked to you about this before, but like there are so many kinds of trees, like it's such an exuberant creation and every one of them is fascinating to me.

I love that all those trees also have a name. They have a scientific name, and they have a common name, right? And I actually love that everything has a name, even paint colors. Like one of my favorite things in the world is that paint colors have names, and that somebody went through and named them all. And like, I just think that would be the coolest job in the world, right? But like, I'm always just like, this paint color has a name. I love that things have a name. I love that everything has its own language. Like, you know, how every sport or like every hobby or every like community, like they have their own language.

I just love that. I love when you are learning a new thing you like, learn a new language, right? Like I'm about to go to surf camp and I'm like, oh my gosh, I could learn the new language, right? Like I'm so excited. This one. I love the sound of basketball shoes on a gym floor. You know, when you go to like, high school basketball games or college basketball games and you can hear the shoes on the floor? I love that sound. I love high school musical theater. Like, it's so earnest, right? Like they're just their hearts are on their sleeves.

And even when it's bad, I love it so much. I love high school musical theater just for the like, wistful earnestness of it all. Oh, it just is like the best. I love reading books at nap time. I haven't done this for a long time because my kids are grown, but that is like one of my all time favorite activities is to read books to my kids at nap time. I love the age of mountains, like the majesty like you get on them and like they have a story inside of them, right? Like you can feel it. Like so deep down. I love the same thing about the ocean, right? And just like I get by the ocean and I'm just like, tell me your story. I love tents, I love that we have tents. Like we did a lot of camping when my kids were growing up, and we camped with sometimes with friends, and they always had campers and RVs and stuff, and I'm like, why would you do that? I love tents, like, I love being in a tent. I love whispering in a tent. I love the coolness of the tent. I just I think they're magical.

I love how dogs are so excited when you come home like you are such a rock star. Like, I love their little tails, I love their faces. I love their like you're the best thing that ever happened to them when you walk in the door. I love poetry, I love poetry so much. It's like condensed feeling, condensed feeling all in one. Like compact little package that just makes you feel so good. I really love team sports. I love team anything really, but the camaraderie and the the love. I love watching team sports, I love that, but also like orchestras, like all working together, that the team aspect of that. And I even was thinking about like, I love teams and like buddy movies are like, you know, in like movie montages when they're getting the team together. That's my favorite part. Like the other day, I was at the gym and I was doing a run, and I was watching Armageddon, which is an old movie, you know, Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis and, like, saving the planet. But the best part of that movie is like when they're gathering up the team. Like, that is the best montage ever. I love that so much. Speaking of movies, I love the previews. I love to go to the movies and watch all the previews. My husband's always like, we can be late. I'm like, we can't be late. That's the best part. Like mini movie, right? I also love the credits. I love sitting through the credits. I love reading the names of people that, like, made a contribution. Again, we're part of a team and that most people don't know and I love like reading their names. I love seeing the credits.

Speaking of that, I'm such a book lover, but I love a good dedication page. Like I'm just like, give it to me, right? Give me all the feels. I just love a dedication page. I'm going to try to go faster, you guys. I'm sorry. I love Petoskey stones. If you're not from Michigan, you might not know that one, but. So these stones with, like, the fossils inside them, they're so beautiful. And I just love, like, the record of life that is in them. I love libraries, of course. I love office supplies. I love peaches and cream, peaches and cream. If I ever had to have a last meal, it would definitely be peaches and cream. That is my favorite thing ever. I love the Olympics again. This might be kind of an unpopular opinion. I'm sure there's like a lot of politics and exploitation and all kinds of environmental damage that they do. I don't, I know, right? But I love the Olympics. Like, I love I love the stories, I love the music, I love the effort, I love the dedication.

I just like it's just, oh my gosh, it just gets me every time. I love it so much. And we are in an Olympic year, so you can bet I'm looking forward to that. Drinking through a straw again, that might not be politically correct, but like, I love that it's such a good pleasure drinking through a straw. I love Orange Julius and I love the memories that are associated with it. My husband, when my kids were little, made them Orange Julius almost every night. And yeah, it's just such good memories. I love Neil Diamond like I give me all the Neil Diamond just again, just the nostalgia, right? And then I was like, wait, I love John Denver too. And Dolly Parton. Oh my gosh. Just for the nostalgia. I love it so much I love words. But I always loved words. I'm just always, like, amazed by them. They're just symbols and they convey a whole thought and oh yeah, I love, I love words, hot and candy clouds. Oh my gosh, write the best. I wrote The Gloaming. Do you call it that? The gloaming is that part of the day where, you know the sun's just going down. And the world is kind of like got that yellow pink light on it. And everything's sort of like, quieting down. And that's a magical time of the day for me. I love it so much, laughing in bed like, I, I love that feeling. I'm laying next to David. We're laughing our heads off that. Is there a better feeling? I don't think so. I love bistro lights. You know those bulbs that you put on a patio? I love those I love thank you notes.

They're the best. I love old friends. For my birthday, my kids made a video. They contacted a bunch of my friends and they all wished me like a happy birthday message. They put it together in this video. Oh my gosh. I just sat there and bawled every time a new friend popped up. I just bawled. I talked to them through the through the video screen and it was just like, oh my gosh, I love old friends. I love friends that know everything right? And love you anyway. I love that the guy at the nail salon knows my name and my favorite color. I love that. I love sunflower seeds at a baseball game. I love movie popcorn. I love it when you get to that part in the book, when you just can't stop and you're like, well, I guess I'm going to be tired tomorrow because I can't stop. I have to finish this. And then I love crying right at the end. I love crying over the fictional characters I love I love that kind of grief. Right? I love little children after a nap, like when the kind of I love it all, all the ways that they are like, sometimes they're all snuggly and sometimes they're kind of grumpy, and sometimes they're just bewildered. Like, I love all of that so much. I love bringing a baby home. Oh my gosh, there's no better feeling in the entire world than bringing a baby home. I love ruby chestnuts. I've already talked about trees, but I love ruby chestnuts. And I love aspens. Like the sound that the leaves make. You know those golden coins as the wind blows. Oh my gosh, I love that sound. I love a long hug. I love it when your water breaks. I had that experience with three of my children, actually, and I love that.

Like the anticipation, the moment. The whole thing is so surreal to me, I love it. Seat heaters. Can we get a round of applause for seat heaters? Personally, to me, this is the single greatest invention ever. Seat heaters in cars. Oh my gosh, my favorite thing I love it. Guacamole I love guacamole. Who invented it I, I love it, right? I love that feeling. When you take your bra off at the end of the day. That is so good, right? I love the feeling of your oldest, most worn sweats. They're like a second skin more than clothing, right? Oh my gosh, so good. I love Friday nights. Here we are together. I love that feeling of Friday night and then Saturday morning. The pleasure of a Saturday morning is just about the best thing in the world. I love the smell when my husband's just getting out of the shower. I love a 5:00 shadow, I love skipping, I love live music. I love that perfect amount of being sore, right? Like there's this, like perfect sweet spot where you're just a little bit sore and you just feel so good inside your body. I love when you're starting a run or a workout, and it starts with the perfect song on your playlist and ends with the perfect song in your playlist. That is like the magic day, right? I love Blts like, to me that's a perfect sandwich, except when my husband makes me a grilled cheese. Oh my gosh, he's kind of perfected it. He found this special kind of bread and every Sunday after church we get home, he's like, hey, do you want me to make you a grilled cheese? And it's like, oh, one of my favorite things in the world that he does that he like makes this grilled cheese for me. And it's it's about the best thing in the world. I love the first fries in the box. Right? And I love the first suck on a strawberry milkshake. Like those two first moments are the best. I love the last piece of the puzzle. Let's be honest, I love all the pieces of the puzzle.

I love that little click and that little o burst of satisfaction when they click together. I love baseball fields, but like especially under the lights when they turn the lights on the baseball field like that is so magical to me. I also love the smell of a mint. Oh, it's like so good. I love getting snowed in. It hasn't happened to me very often, right? I live in Arizona, but occasionally we have gone places at Christmastime or something and been snowed in and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is the best feeling in the world. I love making pie. That is one of my favorite things to do for fun. Make pie. I love moss again. Not very much of it here, but I love moss and I also love saguaros. I love a new pair of running shoes like that new pair when you lace it on. Oh so fun! I love a perfect playlist and I love road trips. Yeah, I fell in love with my husband. I feel like on road trips and we did so much of it as a family and I just, I love a, I love a good road trip.

Okay, that's the end of my list, but certainly not an end to the list of just like, ordinary awesomeness all around us. And when you let yourself notice, I hope that you will see. There's actually so much, so much to be happy about. And as Neil Pasricha says, like we only have 100 years to experience it. We only have 100 years to notice it. We only have 100 years to really enjoy it. And so I think you need to he also says this today, right now is the farthest you are ever going to be from death. So, you better start noticing it. You better start taking advantage of it. You better start seeing it. There is so much awesomeness around you. There is so much to be happy about. And one of the great privileges of your life is to notice it, to see it, and to enjoy it. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome. I love you for listening and I'll see you next week.

Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today. If you're serious about changing your life, you first have to change your mind. And the best way to do that is through coaching. I work with my clients one on one to help them change their thoughts and their feelings about themselves, their lives, and their challenges so that they can live a life they love. If you'd like to work with me one on one, you can learn more and schedule a free call to try coaching for yourself at Aprilpricecoaching.com.