Hey there. Grab a seat if you can, or just settle in wherever you are. Maybe you are reading this on your phone while walking, or stealing five quiet minutes for yourself. Wherever you are, I am here with you, talking as one friend to another.
So often, our conversations circle back to what is broken. We talk about the heartaches, the lonely moments, and the haunting what-ifs that visit us in the quiet of the night. I understand that completely. I have been there too, feeling like the weight of the world was a personal assignment. But today, I want to try something different with you. Let us gently flip the script together.
What if, instead of picking apart our pain, we made a conscious choice to celebrate our wins? I am not talking about the grand, trophy-winning victories, but the small and quiet ones. Those are the moments that stitch our ordinary days together with threads of something genuinely golden.
I will go first, since I am the friend who brought this up. I have always considered myself a happy person, and I still do. Of course, I have cried many times. But I have come to realize something important about those tears. If I imagine that fifty-five percent of them fell because of hurt or hardship, then the remaining forty-five percent were something else entirely. They were tears of release, of profound relief, or of overwhelming beauty or even greater success. They were the price of admission for a life that is, in its own imperfect way, deeply beautiful.
Let me tell you a part of my story. I grew up without a father in my life. He was not geographically far, but I never got the chance to call him Dad. For a long time, I carried that absence inside me like an empty room, convinced I was unloved and unwanted. Then one perfectly ordinary day, it dawned on me. I had been searching for love in a place that was closed off, while all around me, my mother was offering it in abundance. Her love was so vast and steady that it filled every silent space he had left behind. I had been so fixated on the missing piece that I nearly missed the wholeness of the picture already there.
Perhaps this sounds familiar to you. Maybe you have also looked for validation from someone distant or half-hearted, maybe a friend who faded away or a partner who did not show up, while overlooking the people who were right there, giving you exactly what you needed all along. It could be a parent, a sibling, or a friend whose constant presence is a gift you are only now learning to see.
So let us start noticing those gifts together. Let us count the quiet miracles. Remember the times when money was tight, but you still shared a meal and found a reason to laugh? That is a miracle. It is not the dramatic kind, but the persistent, gentle kind that propels you forward. Remember failing an exam? That was hard. But then you passed another, or you learned a better way to study, or you simply learned to be kinder to yourself in the process. You achieved something that was good enough for you, and that is a triumph when you know you gave it your honest best.
You have had conflicts and awkward silences, yes. But you have also shared inside jokes that still make you smile. You have shared a bag of chips on a tough day and felt the solidarity in that simple act. You have had moments where someone looked at you and said, “I understand,” and meant it. We can focus so intently on the dirt life throws our way that we become blind to the resilient flowers growing straight through the cracks.
This is my proposal to you, friend. Let us make a pact to focus on the forty-five percent. Let us define that thirty-five percent as the text from your mom that says she is proud of you. It is the song that comes on the radio at just the right moment and feels like a musical embrace. It is the job that may not be your ultimate dream but allows you to live with dignity and peace. It is the morning you wake up and realize you slept soundly through the night, without the familiar itch of anxiety.
Let us be intentional about making memories. Call that friend you have been missing and talk until the sun paints the sky. Buy someone a small gift just to see them smile, with no expectation of anything in return. Practice forgiveness, not necessarily because others deserve it, but because you deserve the peace it brings you. I have a job that sustains me. I am surrounded by love, largely because I choose to recognize it and to offer it back freely.
My life is not perfect, and I know yours is not either. But it is ours, uniquely and completely. There is so much good here, woven into the everyday, just waiting for our attention. So put your hand over your heart and feel that steady rhythm. That is you, still here, still trying. That alone is a magnificent win.
So let us talk more about these wins. Let us talk about a joy that does not need a grand reason to exist. Let us talk about the forty-five percent and watch it grow. I am right here with you, listening and celebrating every step. Are you ready? Let us begin, follow us on Instagram, tiktok, twitter and tell us your story will post it for other people to see.
