Happiness is a Butterfly
Happiness is a Butterfly
Summer is *officially* over. Sad, I know, especially since summer ’20 looked a little different than usual, (still fun though- see “A Summer in Session”). For me and probably a million other teens though, the end of summer feels just a little different, as the end of the summer before college signifies the end of our formal definition of childhood as well. I’ll be honest, it really freaked me out that childhood was over, just like that. Before I realized that no, going to college did not mean the end of fun, and yes, it was possible to live a full life even amidst work and responsibility, I spent too many days stressing over things that just didn’t matter. Like would my entire life be over if I didn’t have absolutely perfect grades and get into the best college? Or how was I supposed to balance school and social life in college while also carving out time for myself? Over this past summer thanks to COVID, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my priorities and how I used to spend my time. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that it was stupid of me to worry about my childhood ending when I really should’ve cared about how I spent the majority of the past eighteen years. I had placed such a priority on education, and I had strived for perfection so much so that I had forgotten how to just live and enjoy the time I had. (You’d be surprised how much time you waste worrying about things that just won’t matter come five years, like a failed test. (Really, one test doesn’t matter) The hardest lesson I had to teach myself this year is that once in a while, it’s okay to let go and have some fun. Another lesson to internalize as well is that childhood is not defined by age. My dad always taught me that while you may no longer physically be a child, you do not automatically lose your youthful spirit. In fact, in order to enjoy yourself, it is sometimes necessary to view life through the simple perspective of a child. It is actually very possible to remain childlike at heart, even as time steals years from us faster than we can blink.
“Happiness is a butterfly. Try to catch it like every night”
I think these words resonate pretty loudly in that happiness is not a guarantee in life; it’s a butterfly that we should try to catch every night. But like all things we love, we eventually have to let them go, as butterflies can’t be stuck in a jar forever. We aren’t handed happiness on a silver platter. While I believe we were made by love for love and joy, the unfortunate truth to our society today is that we have to work towards catching those happy moments, as they are so faint, fragile, and fleeting. I’d like to think that a life well-lived is a life where we collect those little happy moments in pretty glass jars along the way, filling them to the brim with sunsets of a summer night or wispy blue butterflies of nights past that flit and float, suspended in midair as the memory freezes in our mind. I don’t know about you but in sixty or so years, I would love to reminisce on my memories displayed proudly on shelves upon shelves, gleaming with pride. It sure as hell won’t be mundane memories that I look back on, like the hours I spent studying for tests, or the trivial arguments I got into with my friends. It will be the moments I spend lying in the grass staring at the stars, smiling in delight when I spot a shooting star, or hiding in a tree during the first week of college while playing manhunt, silently laughing at the chaos below me. I want to choose happiness and cultivate a better life for myself in the process, choosing to dance instead of walk, to sing instead of speak, and to laugh instead of cry. Here’s to the next four, and here’s to learning how to love myself, and in turn life.
“Happiness is a butterfly. We should catch it while dancing”
(song and lyrics from Lana Del Ray)
