one thing that i think has definitely contributed strongly to the improvement of my mental health, as well as being a less hostile and bitter person in general, is allowing myself to recognize beauty in every part of the world, even the most painful things about it.
this isn't an easy thing to do... for a long time, i truly hated humanity, myself, and the world we live in. it's a wonder how i've managed to get here, but i'd like to lend my wisdom on the off chance that it could help someone else who may struggle with the same things i have...
i'll start with an anecdote: back in december, i went to a concert with my family, and like any self-respecting concertgoer i was stoned out of my mind. the concert was amazing, but i may have found perhaps even more joy in just... looking at other people. watching them, thinking about how they've all lived lives full of experience and love and pain and joy. they have their own thoughts, feelings, passions, perceptions...
this is such an obvious thing, right? yet it's something we tend to take for granted: the fact that every single human being on this earth, all eight billion-something of us, practically has their own little world inside their head. and how different, how rich each and every one is... every person you've seen, ever, has convictions, friends, enemies. is that not remarkable?
and you never know just what any of them could be going through, either. this random person, a stranger to us, could just as well be a lover, caretaker, favorite person, or something else, to another. consider, maybe, who or what they have to come home to: a family, a pet, a new video game. what they might be worried about, what they might be excited for... realize that perhaps this person has so much more in common with you than you'll ever even know!
now let's go beyond just people. how about the things you own? the things you enjoy, even the things you despise? the majority of these things, in some way, were brought to us by another person. in this way, we're able to have a piece of them for ourselves... a piece of someone we don't even know exists. and the influence these seemingly nameless individuals have on our lives is incredible.
do you ever wonder who came up with the idea of a "taskbar"? all of the experiences in their life somehow led to them coming up with that idea, even those experiences that are (or seem to be) completely unrelated to it. if just one thing had changed, perhaps we'd have ended up with something completely different.
even in respect to things that were built by machines, we wouldn't have them without the genius of hard-working engineers. and what could've led them to develop that sort of intelligence, that sort of creativity? when did they realize engineering was their passion, if it even is? we'll never know for certain. all we have to go by is this little fragment of their heart that has made its way into our lives, whether by chance or fate.
i think there's a lot that i could say about this, but i'll leave it to your thoughts for now. maybe i've helped you find a little more beauty in the things we don't really think about in life. maybe you think i sound silly. whatever the case, thank you for reading--and remember that your life has so much value. :)