on this life

a small poem on adulthood [78]:

On a normal life

It’s how you show up to work each day,

Rinse and repeat.

How you finish the gym at 8,

and still cook dinner afterward.

Quiet nights on the couch together.

The same rotation of weekday meals:

Beef chili, chicken thighs, pasta.

The same walks around the neighborhood,

Duolingo in silence after a night out.

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When I was envisioning life as an adult,

it was not like this.

I thought,

life would be grandiose and exciting all the time,

doing big important things.

The more days pass, the more I realize,

life is a repetition of mundane moments,

and that is okay.

You find joy in and in between the mundane.

A “boring life” can be a luxury.

____________________________________

So I come back to my own,

finding the fun and beauty in it.

Go on more walks,

make the 47th variation of oatmeal for breakfast,

buy flowers at the grocery store,

call the same three people in my contacts,

sit outside before work,

sleep in on the weekend,

date nights on a Wednesday,

or a Thursday,

or any day.

_____________________________________

Maybe there is a secret to a “great” life,

maybe there is none,

and everyone has been searching for an elixir.

Perhaps life is normal,

and that is normal.

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Thank you for reading the Life with MD publication. This newsletter is about my observations and thoughts as a twenty-something splitting time between the U.S. and Viet Nam. I write about life: the joy and discomfort of it all.

This is the first poem I've shared here. Please share it with a friend if you like it.

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