The world is a crazy place right now.  And just when you think it can’t get any crazier, it does.

For better or worse, I’m the kind of person who can’t easily shrug off the things that are happening “out there.”  In my opinion, there is no “out there.” While it’s not healthy to focus on the pain, fear, negativity, etc., it’s also not right to ignore it all.  Maybe it’s just me, but I haven’t found the right balance of feeling/understanding/processing everything and living/doing/moving forward.  Perhaps there is no balance…perhaps it’s about learning how to do both concurrently.

Anyways, I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know that by choosing to focus on things that make me happy (and fill me with gratitude), I’m able to stay positive (most of the time!) and see the light.  And in this crazy world, that’s often the only thing we can do.

So with that, I want to share the top 5 things making me happy right now…

1 – Being in Chicago

Big shocker, right?!  But seriously, there’s something truly magical about this city.  Even though we’ve been here for over a month now, I still can’t believe we get to call this place home for the next few years.

Chicago skyline

2 – Seeing Roshni and Samir 

If you’re a long time reader of MIS, you know that Roshni is one of my very best friends.  You may or may not recall that her and her husband used to live in Chicago.  Basically, they moved back to Atlanta a year before we moved to Chicago.  Like ships sailing in the night.  🙁

Luckily, Rosh and Samir love Chicago and are planning to visit a lot!  They’re going to be in town this weekend, so we’re meeting them up for dinner tonight.  And the fun doesn’t end there.  Rosh is coming back in a month and spending a whole weekend with me.  Woot woot!

Ringing in 2014 079

3 – Seeing our families this weekend in St. Louis

Aek, Adarsh, Vishnu, and I are driving to St. Louis tomorrow morning.  Adarsh’s parents are hosting a religious ceremony at the temple for the newlyweds.  The best part is that my parents and Vishnu’s parents will also be there!  I’m really looking forward hanging out with everyone and hopefully eating some delicious South Indian food.

T&C 155

4 – Learning that a coworker wants to be part of a two person book club with me.

I haven’t picked up a book in SO long which is unfortunate given how much I love to read.  Thankfully, one of my coworkers and I figured out that the two of us love to read books AND discuss them at length, so we’re starting our very own book club.  Lunchtime is about to get pretty deep!

If you have any book recs, please leave a comment!

5 – Listening to Donovan Livingston’s Harvard commencement speech.  

There really are no words!  But if I had to pick one, it’d be powerful.

Your turn – what’s making you happy right now?

By Parita

5 thoughts on “5 Things Making Me Happy Right Now”
  1. I love that you love Chicago. I love that city so, so much. The ease of getting from A to B, how stupid easy and awesome the CTA is compared to most transit authorities in the US, the amount of food, activity, events that are always happening in the city, the way you can completely avoid tourists by going 4 blocks in a different direction….the list goes on and on for me. So many folks in MI flock to Chicago after graduation and I myself thought I’d end up there one day. Who knows! It could still happen. The tidbit about your book club sounds amaaaazing. Here are some books I’ve read that are awesome and would be awesome for a book club:
    Jhumpa Lahiri – In Other Words
    Padma Lakshmi – Love, Loss and What We Ate (Par, words can’t describe how awesome this book was and being South Indian, I could relate to so much of what she talked about food-wise, upbringing, etc.).
    M. R. Carey – The Girl With All The Gifts (kind of supernatural, suspense – really good!)
    Amy Poehler – Yes Please (I literally LOL’d)
    Girl on the Train (you may have already read it though)
    Louise Jensen – The Sister
    I could go on and on 😉

    Hope we can meet up this weekend or early next week!
    Aparna B. recently posted…Wake Up and Smell the RoutineMy Profile

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