20 Positively Glorious Things In Life.

I am on a strictly timed revision break right now.

Currently, microbiology is absolutely draining my soul and pouring it into little agar plates and petri dishes only to find the minimum concentration of Medicine required to kill me completely. I think this is an apt time for me to stop.

So here’s a challenge. I get 40 minutes to come up with 20 happy things and absolutely none of them will be bacteria related. Here I go. Deep breath. And…

1. Chocolate exists.
And in addition to this beautiful, wonderful sugary fact of life, the final trails of Easter still happen to be lining the corners of select shelves at Tesco Express. And the last time I walked in there, Lindor Eggs cost 25p. Instant happiness with a delightfully melting middle.

2. It’s the sunny side of the year.
Thankyou, thankyou THANKYOU! I don’t know about you but waking up to sunshine and sleeping when its traces still sweep the sky literally fills my body with its glow. Nothing makes me happier than long, lush, balmy and slightly sticky summery evenings sitting outside a pub with a cold Kopparberg and they are all on their way.

3. I deleted the Instagram app off my phone. Also Facebook. Also Twitter.
And I well and truly recommend the same social media detox to everyone. I’m really embracing this hype of productive procrastination (doing things like reading about how sassy Ed Milliband is and blogging) over scrolling through photos of famous people whom I don’t really care about. Also it means I don’t have to look at all those fitness pages I follow where I convince myself looking at these people will make me want to exercise, whilst I reach for my next Lindor Egg.

4. The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine is literally the medic Bible.
Okay strictly speaking, this isn’t exactly about bacteria. But it IS exam period and without my second hand copy of this gloriously yellow, green and red book with its tattered pages and frayed ribbons, I would be completely clueless about anything and everything. May we take a moment of silence to give thanks to the Handbook.

5. I am a fully functional human being.
At the moment I’m so so fortunate to say that I’m not unwell physically or mentally in any way and though I feel incapacitated by microbiology from time to time, I can still come up for air and interact with other humans in a relatively normal way.

6. High waisted items of clothing are hip and cool.
Suck it in girls.

7. I am about to take my driving test in a month.
Okay so this is a totally personal one but all year I’ve been feeling this massive deficit in my independence because I can’t drive. I’ve had Shakespearean levels of drama with my driving so I am eternally grateful to be in a position where I’m actually ready to take a practical test now. My licence isn’t even pink yet and I’m brimming with gratitude.

8. Life is such an adventure.
Oh for heaven’s sake, she’s being all philosophical again. Okay, yes, this is true, I am. But if we just stop and think for one second- our fast paced lives are actually taking us somewhere and so many of us are actually in the process of chasing and living our hopes and dreams and that is really really exciting. Even if it seems dull… look at the bigger picture. Life is effing exciting.

9. Zayn Malik left One Direction.
This roughly translates to ‘Zayn Malik has finally realised how rude he has been for the past four years in not realising that he needs to marry me right now (Don’t worry, I’m over the Thailand girl, I’m not all uptight like Perrie) so, errr, hey wedding bells’.

10. Comedy Central plays F.R.I.E.N.D.S. episodes back to back 24/7.
I don’t even need to elaborate this point. Ah. Unagi.

11. Success is defined by our own terms.
During my long days of philoso-studying, I stumbled across a sweet little thought that makes me smile every time I repeat it in my head. Which is that the minute we stop comparing ourselves to the people around us, we are well and truly unique and successful people. I realised that I spent so much time thinking I’m not good enough that when I eradicated this need to see myself relative to those around me and instead just see me for me – I’ve realised that I’m doing what I want and getting where I want and my hard work has put me here and it’s keeping me here. Happy, happy, happy.

12. Even the worst of days are undoubtedly made that little bit better with a single hot, steaming cup of tea.
All my fellow tea drinkers… can I get an AMEN.

13. Buzzfeed is such an excellent way to pass time on the toilet.
I don’t care if people judge me for this. Yes, social media may have left my phone but Buzzfeed is still there, it’s still hilarious and it’s still 100% relatable. The greatest kind of trash.

14. Trees.
One of my best friends is obsessed with trees and it’s made me really notice them. And they are almost the most peaceful form of nature. They’re so deeply rooted in just being there. And they are about to spray our summer views with lush green leaves and make everything look beautiful so let’s all be like Helen and get excited about trees.

15. Our lives are full of wonderful people.
I read a quote last year which said ‘Surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you. Energies are contagious’. And it is so insanely true. When you’re around a person, if you listen to your intution, the feeling right at the bottom of your chest, your consciousness has already decided for you whether you like them or not. And I am grateful to say that at this moment in time, I am surrounded by people who keep those energies saturated with positivity and happiness. Those people are my friends and I love every single one of them. And if you think you’re not surrounded by such people… you have the complete power to shake off the ones that let negativity mess with your vibes. Use your intuition filter to keep the ones in your life who make you laugh until you cry and who you can ring up at 2a.m. to suggest a McFlurry.

16. This blog nearly vanished and I hadn’t saved it, but then it was only my computer messing up and it’s actually still here.
When you get onto point number 16, you don’t want to lose the flow. And in life, there is a save button. I just pressed it. All hail the save button.

17. The world is a beautiful place.
And we have aeroplanes that can get us from one continent to another in hours. This world has so much for us to explore. We live in a time where everywhere is so accessible. And that possibility to roam it exists for all of us. Next month, I get to go back to my beloved Kerala and see my grandmothers- the two most wonderful women on Earth. Thank you Life for being good to me. Thank you Wright Brothers for the invention of planes. Thank you Emirates for the insane collection of Bollywood movies that will entertain me for all 17 hours of the journey.

18. Kebab Land is a five minute walk from my house.
Applicable to any student who lives anywhere near a half decent takeaway. Cheesy fries, ketchup, mayo and chilli sauce are merely footsteps away.

19. There are 24 Hours in a day.
24 hours is like gold dust. That’s a lot of time to achieve a lot of things. For me right now, that’s a lot of time to cram a lot of facts.

20. Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too,
I walked around the corner, and someone saw my grin.
When he smiled… I realised… I’d passed it onto him.
I thought about that smile and then I realised its worth.
A single smile, just like mine could travel round the Earth.
So if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic, quick, and get the world infected!
Thought I would end the post with a solid sprinkling of cheese. And this is one of my favourite poems of all time because it’s succinct, it’s cute and it’s cheesy. And I now have 19 more reasons to apply this poem to my life.

So thank you all for joining me on my journey. I feel fully refreshed and ready to tackle the Principles of Pathogenesis. I know this was kind of personal, but I hope some of these are applicable to any lovely person who might be reading this and I hope you can all find 20 Positively Glorious Things in your life too.

Many many pots of love to you all,

Gowri xxxxxxx