Maroon 5, tea, yogurt, and toast. Sunset. The clock across the way. I love the urban lifestyle, but I also love the little moments. Once, I was asked what my favorite smells are, and I said old books, lemons, leather, and chocolate chip cookies. Not a very typical question, but it's a good one to evoke memories.

Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you simplified? Not necessarily in the object sense, but just to your core beliefs and personality. What would you do? Who would be in your closest relationships? What words would describe you? What would a typical day look like? These are questions that I've been pondering recently since I'm away from all of my usual favorites, but I'm finding new favorites here.

If my life was simplified, I would write, read, and listen to music.

If I could do anything, I would travel, laugh, adventure, and treasure.

If I had only a few close relationships, it would be with people who also value conversations, motivation, and acceptance.

If I could describe myself, I would say I'm honest, artistic, and energetic.

If I could live my typical day, I would eat brunch, go to bookstores, find new coffee shops, and go dancing.

If this exercise excites you, then that was the goal! Luckily for me, I've been able to find many of these aspects of my life here in Edinburgh. Through the course of this blog, I've really been able to highlight these important factors, and I think that's really essential for self-evaluation.

Hot chocolate, a beautiful sight, and laughter.

We don't often budget time for reflection in our everyday life. This is something I realized the most when I visited The Corrymeela Center last year. That space was authentic and encouraging, and we all need more of that.

The aim of this type of questioning is to isolate the reasons that you do what you do. This is one of the most important types of growth, whether it's for school, career, or life in general.

I do what I do because I believe in building my own strength. I want to do what I do because it makes me happy. Find the things that make you happy.

In the words of Maroon 5,

"I miss the taste of the sweet life
I miss the conversation
I'm searching for a song tonight
I'm changing all of the stations
I like to think that we had it all
We drew a map to a better place."

Draw your own map, find your own better place.

Lucky Strike of the Day: I hadn't listened to Maroon 5 in a while, and their music inspired this blog post. Thanks to their magic.