Little wonders 🌌

“It takes courage to grow up and be who you are.” - E.E. Cummings

(listen while you read)

Our lives are made / In these small hours / These little wonders / These twists and turns of fate / Time falls away / But these small hours / These small hours still remain” - Rob Thomas, Little Wonders

One of my favorite songs comes from one of my favorite movies, Meet the Robinsons, the story of a kid who believes he’s not good enough, not smart enough, and undeserving of a good life, but ultimately proves to himself that he’s more than worthy and more than capable, and changes both his future and the world’s.

A lot of the time, each of us are a lot like Lewis. We try something, and if it doesn’t work out, we’re discouraged, and let ourselves wallow in thoughts of “I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m not worthy”, etc, etc, when these thoughts couldn’t be further from the truth (your anxiety is lying to you!). And unfortunately, we give up on our goal, place blame where it’s unwarranted, and continue to attack the one person we need the most, ourselves.

Polarizing results can occur when you believe in yourself and trust your instincts versus when you do not; your thoughts ultimately determine the course of your life.

Little Wonders is one of those songs you listen to when you’re sad, when you’re happy, when you’re stressed out, when you forget how far you’ve come in life, when you forget how one day not so long ago, you dreamed of being where you are right now, and forget how one day soon, you’ll be exactly where you dream of being right now.

No matter how many times I listen to this song, it never fails to stir something within me. So often in life our minds are preoccupied with never-ending worries, stress, feelings that we’ll never be good enough, that we’ll never reach that next goal, that we forget to pause, look around, and appreciate the life we have right now and the people that surround us and support us.

In the words of the great Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

We forget to embrace the present and find joy in our everyday experiences, and don’t recognize that even in challenging times, there are moments of beauty and significance. If we slowed down and really took a good look at ourselves, we might realize that we are greater than the sum of our parts, more special than we let ourselves realize. Finding the courage to listen to your own inner voice above all others isn’t easy, but with this action comes clarity, and you might just start seeing the world through a different lens.

We get scared to take on the world when we have so much to offer it, and let our confidence be overtaken, our minds ruled by those who don’t understand it, conform ourselves to a system that wasn’t designed for us.

We try to plan everything in our lives out so perfectly, and we get frustrated when our plans fall through, when circumstances that we have no control over change. But often in that moment right before we decide to give up completely, the tide changes, the storm passes, and a new path appears. Life often comes together in ways we’ve never considered before, and changes our point of view and our journey for the better.

Life leads you to where you’re meant to be, but it’s difficult to trust that it’s magically going to work out, that everything will be OK no matter what. Humans crave control, and as a result, we force ourselves into situations we’re not meant for, alter our personalities to fit into neatly labelled boxes, mask who we are and perform for others, hoping they can’t see through the act, that they’ll never find out that we’re imperfect.

Being ourselves, perfectly imperfect, flaws and all, is all any of us can do. What’s meant for you will come to you, and what’s meant to be will be.

These little wonders, these twists and turns of fate, seemingly ordinary moments, make our lives what they are, give them meaning, and make life worth living. It might not seem like it right now, but if you choose to just start the thing you’ve been putting off starting, choose to think differently, choose to let it all go, whatever it is that you need to do to get clarity and keep moving forward in your life, your life will change, perhaps in a seemingly small amount at first, and then, all at once.

One day you’ll look back and see how the dots connected, how these seemingly small moments had a larger than life impact as they compounded over time, how the map of your life was created.

Our lives are forever changed everyday without us even realizing.

I think about these two quotes by Steve Jobs almost daily:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.”

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

- Steve Jobs

It can be so easy to wonder where your life is going and overly question every decision you make. Questions I’ve asked myself in the past concerning my own life included: “Am I making the right choice? What if I don’t know what I really want? What if everything I’m doing right now is for nothing? Where is my life leading me? Where am I going?”

I desperately wanted concrete answers to these questions. Certainty in an impossibly uncertain world. I doubted my own knowledge and intuition. In my eyes, I presumed everyone else had it figured out, they must have. How else did they lead their lives?

Beyond trying to connect the dots within my own life, I became trapped by dogma - living with the results of other people’s thinking. I looked to others first for advice before I looked to myself. I didn’t trust that I knew best, and reasoned that others, especially people close to me in my life, had the answers I was searching for. It took years for me to realize that only I could give myself the answers I was searching for, because only I’ve lived my life. These answers have always been within me, and they always will be, and recognizing this fact will allow me to keep moving forward.

You can only see where you are right now, you can’t see what lies ahead of you. You can look to the past for some semblance of direction, an indication of which future path is the right one, but you’re not going that way. The only thing you can do to assuredly make progress in your life is keep moving forward.

“Let your clarity define you / In the end / We will only just remember how it feels”

The moments where it seems as if time just falls away, like nothing matters other than you and what you’re doing and who you’re with in that moment, those moments are the most important. These life-defining moments, the moments that make you realize it was all worth it, and everything you’ve been working towards has not been without meaning. The troubles you’ve encountered mean nothing in the face of the goodness you’re creating both internally and externally. The twists and turns of fate have been for a reason, and what you remember the most, what inspires you to do better, to change the world, and to keep moving forward, these are the little wonders of your life, the moments that make you, you.

“It’s the heart that really matters in the end.”

Give yourself grace, another chance to try again, and know that in the end, the present moment and what comes next are the only things that matter. Nothing else.

And if ever in doubt, remember the wise words of Walt Disney himself:

KEEP MOVING FORWARD 🚀

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Author’s Note:

I was inspired to write this piece upon reflection of the little wonders of my life, and especially the little wonders of my last four years at college. How while I lived these years, day by day, I often wished they would move faster, as the time seemed to pass by at a snail’s pace. I struggled with indecision, and at times lacked motivation because I couldn’t see the purpose in seemingly pointless busy work. I felt, at least for a little while, like a ship alone at sea, braving harsh waters on a never-ending ocean, desperately looking for land. I knew where I wanted to go, but felt directionless. As I soon learned though, there is no GPS to your future, no one right way, only my own internal compass could guide me.

What I also came to realize is that no one is meant to sail alone. Ships are not made for one person, they’re designed with a crew in mind, people that are there for one another when the going gets tough. And when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Finding a community and close-knit group of people I could call my friends made all the difference in my success at college. Growing more in-tune with my own inner needs and desires came as a result of not only me questioning myself, but my friends and I questioning and pushing each other to become the best version of ourselves.

My goal with my time at college was to sail towards clear waters, or at least the waters that seemed clear to me, with a supportive crew always on deck. I pushed to know myself better, to know without a doubt what I saw for my future, and to have an innate sense of “this is what I want” and to never second-guess that feeling when I felt it strongly.

I know now more than ever before exactly who I am, and though college wasn’t always rosy (such is life), little wonders came in all shapes and forms, and more often than I thought possible. You don’t realize how impactful a singular moment can be until it happens, whether it be spending time with my friends making unforgettable memories that are too crazy to tell stories about, taking a leap when I feel the urge to (like when I spoke with one of the creative directors at Apple and asked her what it would take for me to become a design engineer), trying my best even when something feels unattainable (like spending a summer at SpaceX! Spoiler, not unattainable 😌🚀), giving my all every day and reaching for the stars always, and of course spending time with my loved ones too.

Only looking back can I connect these dots, and only without dogma am I able to live my life to the fullest.

The dots, the little wonders, the everyday moments that add up, the giant leaps that we take, and everything in between, never underestimate their collective power. The way you spend your time matters and affects who you ultimately become. Never forget that.

The little wonders in my life will keep adding up, and the dots will continue to connect in ways I never could have seen coming.

We have the power to change our lives, change our futures, and become whatever it is that we want to be. The future is ours to create. Nothing is set in stone.

Graduation, what happened when I kept moving forward :) Here’s to the next adventure!

Keep moving forward always,

Savannah 💫🫧🌌

P.S. - if you’re wondering how things turned out for Lewis, watch this. Here’s to the future 😉.