"Enjoy What You Do"

Ah, the subtle things of life.

As I grow older and wiser, I am beginning to realize just how extraordinary the subtle things are. I received a package in the mail today. It was from Mom— an “exam box” full of candy and little goodies to get me through rest of this dreadful week of finals. Scattered throughout the package were some of God’s greatest gifts known to man— pieces of Dove chocolate. Dove chocolate has always been sort of this weird connection between me and my mom. We both love the candy and we usually eat it while we are together; like I said, weird.

Anyways, on the wrappers of Dove chocolate pieces are proverbs or maxims that have always struck me as being very corny. You know, like, “Live life to the fullest” or, “Smile, it makes the world better”. Today, at a time in which I am literally at one of the most stressed points of my life, I was deeply contemplating a decision I have coming up that will undoubtedly write the script of my life. I obviously don’t want to make the wrong decision, possibly jeopardizing my life goals and ambitions.

In the recent days, my stress levels have contributed to the dryness of my face. That is, I am always putting my face in my palms. I am tired, I am worried about my grades, I am scared about the possible outcomes of classes if I do poorly on a final, and I am worried about this decision. Today, while all of these things are looming over my head, I pick up a piece of Dove chocolate and unwrap it. As I naturally do, I read the maxim before I eat the chocolate. This particular wrapper said, “Enjoy what you do”. The proverbial bullet had just hit me in the head.

While I do not yet want to elaborate about the details of my future decision, I do want to emphasize the fact that this wrapper literally made the decision clear for me. It made me think about where I am at in my life and where I want to be. Am I enjoying what I am doing? The answer was clear: hell no. It is truly amazing what can happen when something subtle is exposed to you. Had this not happened to me, I might have made the wrong decision in the next few days and I might have been screwed for the rest of my life.

These subtle things in life are what gets me through. After my experience today, I have learned that the small things in life that might seem meaningless to some are life changing to others. This wrapper would probably just be a piece of garbage to the average person. To me, it was a recipe— a recipe that will hopefully make something that was once bitter into something very sweet. My life is bound to change very soon for one reason and one reason only: because I will enjoy what I do from now on.