choose joy

DISCONTENT // I actually wrote my last post at one o'clock this morning after finishing my paper. I actually took this picture over a month ago. I didn't even do the farewell coffee date for the blogtember challenge that I'd been looking forward to since I started the challenge. It's been raining for like 7 days straight. I'm in the library study room. Again. I haven't done devotions today. I've told people I'll pray for them lately and haven't carried through as I should. I want tea. My alarm didn't go off this morning so I woke up late and couldn't shower and woke up irritable because I only had time for a half a bagel for breakfast and probably looked like death. I didn't have time to print out my paper so I was going to do it in class but then we switched classrooms so I had to go to the library and try to figure it out after class time had started and then I forgot my wallet so I had to go back to the classroom and get a quarter and borrow someone else's quarter and it took forever. My family is getting a cold again and I'm sick of being sick. And also a hurricane is on it's way so it's sure to rain consistently for at least another three days. Plus my face is breaking out. Oh and midterms are next week.

CONTENT // On the other side of things, I chose to stay up later than I had to after finishing my paper, just for self care purposes. And it was actually a really renewing time for me. I turned on a sleep playlist, wrote from my heart, pinned the good stuff, and talked a bit to my lovely blogger friend Evelyn. It felt good and I was happy. The coffee date thing is okay- that was the point of my doing the challenge- not to write every single day, but to be inspired to write more. And I did. I wrote 9 posts in September. I would never have made time for those posts without those prompts. I would have completely neglected you all with my ridiculous schedule, but the truth is when I prioritize and work hard, I can do a lot. Maybe not all, but a lot. Also, I like rain actually. And I love the library actually. And God's grace is sufficient for the many, many, countless times that I fail to keep him first. And I can have tea when I get home and it can be lovely if I make it so. The whole paper thing wasn't as bad as it sounds. I survived. Last week when I was sick I got over it in like two days. So I can chill about being sick. A hurricane provides the perfect opportunity for a destressing, family and Jesus filled weekend at home. I can recharge. And I can study, but I can manage my time and make it the best. About midterms- I'll be okay. And after that is fall break. And a weekend of movie nights, coffee shops, and picnics with friends, face-painting for kids, and the week after that a day trip to the mountains with the fam. Also I bought a cookie today, and we discovered a flawless coffee shop downtown. God is ridiculously good.

I spent all day thinking in discontent. Only when I sat down and wrote out this post did I realize how messed up that worldview was. I started this post not planning on having a paragraph on contentedness. Even when I started writing that second paragraph I was writing for the good of my readers- I didn't want you all to leave depressed! But I didn't realize that I needed it just as much as my readers. Probably more. That's part of why I love the blogging community so much. Sitting down and just starting to write some of these things out clears my thoughts so much. It provides accountability and community and turns my thoughts to Jesus.

Today I choose joy. 

What about YOU? What does your life look like when you evaluate it in these terms? What has the blogging community done for you? And what do you do to destress or relax? Any TV shows I should look into? I'll need some tips for this weekend rained in!