satisfaction, pt. 1 & throwback thursday

~ hilly miller ~ 1 Comment

I’m content in never being satisfied.  Let me explain. Life moves, constantly.  At each victory, there is a new mountain, and this cycle is beautiful.  But it’s also tedious and daunting and exhausting. I think, then, that it’s important to savor the tiny moments of satisfaction peppered, or even hidden, in the daily.  These things make me feel accomplished when the bigger dreams are so far from complete, and they make the journey fun.

And let me just say this. I’m in my twenties, and this has made me think it’s entirely natural to feel discontent and far from where I think I need to be.  But I think I’m probably always going to feel a little like that no matter my age.  After all, this isn’t our final destination. It’s a gift to never be done, isn’t it?  I mean, in some ways taking that on, makes me more at rest and more satisfied than when I actually accomplish something I perceive to be huge.  Therefore, I’ve created a list, my friends, of daily things that give me, and I hope you, too, satisfaction.

1. AN EMPTY EMAIL INBOX.  This is an amazing feeling!  Note, you can find all of your unread emails by searching “is: unread” in gmail.  You’re welcome. Outlook is a different beast, and I’m not doing to dwell on my 82 unread emails lost somewhere in the recesses of the internet.  Surely, they’re just advertisements, right?

2. A NEW JAR OF PEANUT BUTTER.  You’ve got a new container of pb.  Congratulations! You now have enough goodness to last you a few weeks’ worth of PB&J’s (or PB&B(bananas)) if you’re hilly now, or you have enough creamy goodness to last you a single afternoon of Grey’s Anatomy if you’re hilly from freshman year of college.  Self control issues concerning the Kryptonite that is peanut butter aside, I think we can all agree that taking the first scoop out of a perfectly smooth surface of manufactured deliciousness is one of the true joys in life. For the record, I am fully supporting of you almond butter lovers out there, but you Nutella people, I think you’re getting greedy.

3. TEETH FLOSSING.  I understand a good deal of us don’t floss. Gross.  I used to be in that category.  Gross. We had to stick it to the dentist, right?  Wrong.  Let me tell you, flossing is one of the best, most satisfying parts of my day.  Yes, that’s right.  Flossing=good. Repeat.

4. LAUGHING.  I’m going to put this twice because I want to.  First, let’s talk about the physical act of laughing.  Laughing is completely satisfying.  It’s cathartic, it lightens everything, it makes you feel like you got a good ab workout in, etc..  When I heard about laugh therapy, I began a habit of taking a few minutes when I’m alone (I would suggest doing the same :)) and laughing.  This means fake laughing until something real comes along.  It’s actually really fun and silly and stupid, and who doesn’t like that combination.  Quiet down, robots.

5. LAUGHTER.  More abstractly, it feels good to be able to laugh at myself.  I do a lot of dumb stuff.  The person who stupidly cut you off in traffic or stood in the middle of the hallway doing nothing but unknowingly blocking your way or even the idiot who forgot to return a movie for a month and now owes twice the movie’s retail value? Those people are probably all me.  I don’t mean to do any of this, and it’s pretty easy to get angry at myself for being dumb.  But, I try, and I’m so happy when I succeed, to just laugh about it.  It’s harder with the traffic, but the hallway thing, that’s how I make a work buddy!  One that hates me to begin with, but hey, I’ll win them over.

These moments are affectionately referred to as “Bridget Jones” moments in the Miller household (possibly only by me). An example? I ordered a coffee named, “The Annihilator” this morning, and no joke, I said, “May I please have The Ann-hil… um the- this one,” having to resort to pointing after I botched the pronunciation of a simple word.  The barista helped me out; I explained that I can’t read, a joke that I gave a little to dryly, and now will never go to that coffee shop again for fear he will give me a pack of Biscuit books.  But the really special part, was how I laughed for five minutes afterwards about it.  I know I’m not actually dumb, I hope.  No, I’m not a genius, but hey, I like that I’m not.  I’m happy with that.  I played a spelling board game once, and one of my friends said that it was sad I couldn’t spell an “easy” word since I want to be a writer.  Well, guess what, I’ve never been good at spelling even though I read and write a lot, so give it a break.  Give yourself a break.  I’ll give you a break.  I want a kit-kat.  This is getting off topic.  The point is, laughing at yourself is a relief, and it’s one that I hope to share, not in a cruel way, but with compassion, to everyone I meet.  We’re going to mess up, and it’s okay.  It’s okay to be you, even if you’re a decently smart, bad spelling, peanut butter loving laugher like me, and it’s okay if you’re not any of those things.  I’m glad I’m me, and I’m glad you’re you, and I’m glad to have little moments of satisfaction for us all to enjoy.

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sometimes winning a matrix competition is as satisfying as it gets

little things

~ hilly miller ~ Leave a comment

I have come to the unoriginal conclusion that it’s the little things.  Now, I know that the actual saying continues on: “It’s the little things that count.”  But for myself, I’d like to modify that if I could.

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I would say, “it’s the little things that make life hilarious.”  Take for instance, the pin I found at a knick-knack store in Ventura, CA.

This pin is ridiculous.  I mean, for the individual looking to promote feline breastfeeding it’s perfect, but for the rest of us it’s both a little disgusting and a lot of hilarious.

I would also say, “it’s the little things I remember.”  Like the first time I watched Marley & Me. It was my first night at college alone, and I’ve never cried at a movie more in my whole life.

But mostly I’d say, “it’s the little things that make life alive.”  It’s the way mustard squirted on my white t-shirt in front of people I just met.  It’s the fact that between the last sentence in this one I had to clean up a dog mess. 😦  It’s the new panoramic function my brother found on his camera phone. It’s all of those things and so many more that make life so full of life.  And, I stopped making sense before this blog started, so sorry.  Deal with it.

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throwback thursday

Image ~ ~ hilly miller ~ Leave a comment

throwback thursday

In honor of currently visiting family in the desert, here’s a family in the desert. Oh, and the family’s mine, and they’re the best. I’m the little one.

Ps. Mom taught me this trick for the spelling of desert vs. dessert, and for those of us who struggle with spelling, even though it has nothing to do with intelligence, I thought it might be helpful. Dessert has two S’s because you always want more of it. Never mixing those two up again.

enJOY

~ hilly miller ~ 1 Comment

“You’re supposed to enJOY it.  All of it.  For the rest of your life.”

I begin this post with a quote from Soul Surfer because I’m going to talk about JOY, swimming, and for unknown reasons, am set on including this picture from Oahu.  So…

Let me be clear, I usually try to enJOY life.  I enJOY the people I am around, even if they’re out of their minds.  I enJOY myself, even when I’m out of my mind.  I try to be intentionally JOYful.

However, JOY is also something that I often realize is missing from my days: the way I interacted with the cashier, the tone I had with my mom on the phone, or even just the way I let the day be less than mediocre for no reason at all.  It seems that as I get older, things that I enJOY are threatened by… grown-up bad attitudes, mostly.

Take swimming.  I LOVE to swim.  Always have.  Ask anyone (mainly my family) about my “dolphin show” I put on in the pool, and then maybe you’ll understand.  Let’s just say I’m pretty good at multiple dolphin-like noises and belly finishes. Moving on… When I joined the swim team in high school, something I loved slowly slipped away from me, from no one’s fault but my own.  I became stressed at practice and angry at my performance. And it was my bad attitude clouding my enJOYment of swimming, making me dread practice, and actually hindering me from getting better.  By the time I got to college, I couldn’t even experience how cool it was to be on an NCAA Div I Swim Team (although it was just for my gpa, so don’t get too impressed).  Instead, I was too embarrassed and disappointed in how slow my times were. What?!  I look back on that now (only three years ago), and I can’t believe I let that amazing opportunity go by.  An opportunity to get better at swimming, yes, but mostly an opportunity to enJOY the experience.  To relish swimming in an Olympic-grade pool with future professional swimmers and Olympians. Seriously, why could I not just chill out and enJOY?!

I say this now because I think that the experiences I’m currently going through that threaten my JOY are very much the same.  The world comes crashing down, trying to rain on my parade. Oh, how it tries.  But guess what, ugly part of the world?  You can’t stop this attitude (the good one)!  I still love swimming, but it took a while to get back together. We’re still working on things. And there are things I treasure, things I do, and ways I think that I refuse to handle with anything but JOY.  So cashier, I’ll make your day next time.  And Mom, feel free to call. I’ll be nice.  And day, you’re going to be spectacular, or at least full of laughter because laughter is my favorite way to live with JOY.

EnJOY your day, and I’m sorry for the annoying caps.  (But not sorry enough to change them.)

10 reasons my dad is awesome

~ hilly miller ~ Leave a comment

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I’ve been told that using the word “awesome” as a writer is lazy language; however, this is a moment when the word is entirely appropriate.

10 Reasons My Dad Is Awesome

1. He once ran over our cat on the way out of the driveway on vacation. This fits with the fact that Dad approaches vacations like Clark Griswold, and Clark W. Griswold is awesome!

2. My awesome dad dressed up as Harry Potter for the midnight premiere of Deathly Hallows Part II.

3. Dad brought me home after getting my wisdom teeth pulled, and he didn’t make a video about it or ever mention the crazy stuff I’m sure I said, instead he got me a milkshake and drove home.  Which reminds me, Dad will impulsively add milkshakes to drive-thru orders, and it’s awesome!

4. Dad will give you advice on or talk to me about anything; he genuinely wants to be interested in whatever I’m interested in. Awesome dad work!

5. When I got a B- in the fourth grade, Dad wasn’t mad. Thanks, Dad.  You’re awesome.

6. Dad knows a lot about everything, and that’s awesome.

7. Once on vacation, we had to pull over to a hotel for the sole purpose to watch an IU basketball game. IU awesomeness.

8. Dad has these incredible chewing muscles that flex in his forehead.  Yes, I know everyone has these, but Dad’s are like The Rock’s biceps in his forehead.  It’s awesome.

9. It’s because of Dad that I know the storylines of Tremors 1, 2, 3, and 4 and of most Steven Segal, Chuck Norris, and Bruce Willis movies.  Awesome.

10. Dad makes it clear that he is proud of his kids and loves them no matter what, and that makes him the best dad in the world.

Happy Birthday to my awesome daddy-o!

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blogging

~ hilly miller ~ Leave a comment

Well, here’s to the start of something… blig.  (Note: blog and big do NOT combine well.  FYI, I wouldn’t ever try to get away with using the word “blig,” especially in something as classy as your personal blog.)

My kids have hounded me about starting this blog and sharing with the world the delights of my days, like the time I spent a month crocheting non-stop or the giant burrito I ate last week.  So for the happiness of my children, here’s to blogging.  (cue glass clinking or High School Musical or both).  Oh, and by kids, I mean my dog, Estelle Getty.