The Art of Romanticizing
- Danielle Farrell
- Apr 14
- 2 min read
Learn how to pay attention to the ordinary
By: Danielle Farrell
You wake up every morning and begin the same mundane routine: wake up, go to class, go to work, grab a bite and go back to sleep. You dredge through the "unskippable cut scenes” of life that seem boring and unimportant.
These moments will never become fulfilling until you put the effort into romanticizing them. You aren’t bored, you just aren't paying attention.
Boredom has become a choice in our society. Our lives are so deeply set into routine and autopilot that we go through the motions rather than appreciating what we experience every day.
Potential lies in our ability to look at our lives purposefully and exercise gratitude in the moments that seem trivial. Boredom is only blindness to what is happening around you. There is always something beautiful waiting to be acknowledged.
What does it mean to truly romanticize your day? It is intentionally finding meaning in the meaningless and adding emotional value to experiences that wouldn’t feel valuable on their own. Romanticizing your day means embracing the aesthetic of romanticization and mobilizing it into a practice of gratitude, preventing you from becoming stagnant in boredom.
In our modern society, it is difficult to feel comfortable caring openly about the small things. Our culture perpetuates the idea of detachedness and constantly appearing aloof. We yearn to seem “above it all,” petrified of being perceived as caring about the uncool.
Vatsala Choudhary says it best: “People have started to believe that showing too much interest or care in anything…comes off as a weakness.”
I encourage our society to pivot from nonchalance to being completely and unapologetically chalant. Lean into the cringe; to be cringe is to be free.
The key is to focus on one main thing: future nostalgia. When you are experiencing a moment, remember the simple fact that you might miss it when it's gone. These mundane moments are usually fleeting and not replicable in their uniqueness. They are often finite without you even realizing. They are the most important to be grateful for.
So, take a moment to appreciate the birds chirping on your daily walk to class. Appreciate the chaos of your weekly roommate debrief. Remember the version of yourself that was unsure of how things were going to turn out.
Most importantly, give yourself permission to find meaning in ways that you haven’t before.
The sole difference between someone living a beautiful life and someone bored is that the happier person is simply paying attention.
Danielle has enjoyed her first year writing for Rowdy Magazine. She truly believes the only reason she can get through the day is her rose colored “romantic” glasses.
Amazing!