focus on the little things

As I enter exam season, when controlled assessments and GCSEs are flying towards my face at 100 miles per hour, I like to focus on the little things.

Like my mum handing me a ready-made cup of tea as soon as I walk through the door, home from school.

Like sitting in church, sandwiched between my two brothers, and listening to my vicar give a sermon on how everything will be ok.

Like laughing until I cry after a friend forgets she's not alone and sings a line of a song off key, out of tune and at the lowest pitch I've ever heard.

I like to focus on the little things, because there isn't one big thing in my life right now that makes me happy 24/7. It's the little things, like the people I love and moments with them, that keep me smiling on my darkest days.

When I'm exhausted and stressed and irritable, the right song (currently listening to The 1975's new album a lot, but specific songs - Halo / Lewis Watson, Dancing on My Own / Calum Scott) can make me 10 times happier, or reading an incredible chapter of my current read (Room by Emma Donoghue), or watching an episode of Agent Carter with my mum while chugging down luke-warm, forgotten tea and snuggling under a blanket.

I smile when a friend sends me funny photos because "you seem sad a lot lately, I want to make you happy", or when my brother buys me Reese's peanut butter cups to snack on during revision, or when I understand something in Physics that I've really been struggling at.

It's easy to miss and forget the little things, but please appreciate them. They could mean the difference between a happy day, or going to sleep feeling lost and alone.

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