The Romanticization of Life

In our lives, we are often taught to be as productive as possible. We’re taught to not let any moment go untouched without some form of work or progress being made. Of course, being productive is the key to a successful life. Still, living this way and only this way can be extraordinarily draining and make life miserable. When you are doing things to make only your future life more appealing, even in your free time, you can start to go a little mad. Personally, I believe the secret to inner peace and contentment is to erase this idea from your mind and begin living life for yourself. To do this, romanticize the small things; otherwise, what is life anyways?

The romanticization of things can too often be seen as an overly positive thing to do—typically carrying the questionably naive concept of looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. This is not quite the same thing. According to Google, the definition of romanticization is to “deal with or describe in an idealized or unrealistic fashion; make (something) seem better or more appealing than it really is.” As one can assume, romanticization can be extraordinarily harmful under certain circumstances; however, when I say romanticize life, I don’t quite mean what Google is referring to. Crafting an idealistic life that has obviously unrealistic elements is not what I am aiming for here. I simply mean romanticize the small things in your life so that life is not just one long day with no enjoyment or fulfillment.

Life is too short to not make the little, seemingly insignificant things, big deals. For example, especially in the time we are living in, many of us are home a lot more than we are used to. Dress up to stay home and wear your favorite earrings—the ones that make you feel like you would wander down the cobblestone sidewalks in Vincent van Gogh’s “Café Terrace at Night.”  Buy beautiful notebooks wrapped in leather and fountain pens and write down anything and everything—extravagant poetry with meanings only you will ever understand, a list of your favorite movies, a life you are just waiting to have. Play records or CDs, even though you have all of the music on your phone, and dance around and pretend you’re the main character in an indie coming-of-age film. Put baby’s breath in empty Coca-Cola bottles and underline the quotes that make you think in classic literature books (even if you don’t end up finishing them.) Draw shapes on your face with eyeliner and put glitter on your eyes and do whatever you want. Live life messily and inconsistently.

This can apply to everything you want it to. Paint with your hands and play music and go see the moon and the stars so they can say goodnight to you. Pick up a new hobby and learn everything possible about it and then block your memory a week from now. Sit in a tiny, burnt orange coffee shop and immersive yourself with everything in it—the smells, the people, the tangy yellow lighting. Go on the train and watch the transition from the city to the suburbs as friends chatter in the peeling, red, vinyl seats behind you. Allow the autumn wind to clear your mind as you walk back from your break at work and make yourself green iced tea on warm mornings. Wake up for the sunrise and roll the windows down on all of your car rides and scream songs you like to listen to. Let yourself think and feel as much as possible. Soon enough you’ll find that this is not romanticizing your life anymore, it is simply allowing yourself to live life in the way you find most ridden with experiences and most enjoyable.

I want to emphasize the point that life is too short to not live it the way you want to. Still, be educated, work, and become successful; nevertheless, don’t lose sight of what makes life livable—the sights and the feelings and the small but memorable experiences. Nothing is exempt from becoming a memory, you might as well make as many of them as content, peaceful, and enjoyable as possible.

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