I love the concept of big joys and small joys being the same energy on a different wavelength. Pre-pandemic, as most young people do, I was quite the chaser of Big Joys. I felt like big moments like travelling, anniversaries, moving, or getting a pet were the true markers of joy and success. It’s not that my Small Joys went 100% unnoticed, but the panini years really helped to reinforce how important is to slow down a bit every now and then. In a post pandemic world, I’ve definitely begun to really soak in the small stuff.
A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon this text post, which is really the catalyst for this whole post. For just a few sentences, it has been poignant enough that I have mentioned it to many friends since I read it. Shoutout to tumblr serotoninsuggestion!
As an anxious bean, I get a bit in my head about revelling in and sharing all the good things that go on. That stops today. Especially, since I’ve had a lot of big joys over the past few years and small joys every day, I thought I'd make this a small series. Let’s start with one REALLY BIG and one not-so-small moment.
The Big Joy: Getting Engaged
George proposed! I said yes! We’ve been engaged since July of 2021! I still can’t really believe that we are in the midst of planning our wedding and that I get to marry my best friend. Since we got engaged in a moment where it looked like pandemic restrictions weren’t quite low enough to celebrate, we’ve taken it really slow with planning and celebrating. It has still been very exciting and here are the photos to prove it.
The Small Joy: Finishing a Good Book
My physio lent me an infamous Hong Kong centred book called Tai Pan and it was probably the lengthiest book I had tasked myself with reading in a long time. We made a little deal that if I could finish the book within two weeks then I could send him two reels a day instead of one - and I do not back down from a challenge. Reading and finishing this book was the catalyst of me learning to really appreciate the little moments. It was the height of a newly imposed lockdown. We had to transition into online teaching and all of a sudden I was spending a lot of time alone locked up in my flat. To relieve my eyes of the seemingly infinite screen time, I started walking down to the water front after school, grabbing a coffee and a cookie, then reading until it was too dark to keep going. Listening to the ocean and getting lost in all the books I read was just so peaceful.
That's all folks!
Mid Autumn Festival approaches, and the time comes for me to shove an ungodly amount of mooncakes into my mouth. But, before we dive into the cosy autumn months, let's take a quick look at this past summer through the lens of food!