40 Reasons Why I Love My Life

40 reasons why I love my life. (Illustration by Sarah Healy)

I am grateful for the life that I am now living

Thanks to Erika Chaudhary for encouraging me to write this article and being the catalyst in me pressing pause on my life and reflecting on the happier aspects.

It is difficult to know where exactly to begin with such a list.

I decided to zone in on four key areas of my life and create a list of ten for each.

1. Spiritual
2. Health
3. Family
4. Fun

Ironically creating this list also highlighted the areas of my life which need more work. this also highlighted which areas of my life need more time and attention. Nonetheless, it is time for this list.

Are you ready? Let us begin!

Spiritual

1. I am very grateful to have discovered yoga and the way it has allowed me to build a better toolkit to deal with the stresses and problems life throws at me.
2. I am grateful to have found through running a form of meditation
3. Ultrarunning has provided me with not only a higher aerobic capacity but an endurance to keep moving forward when times get difficult
4. I feel blessed to have read excellent self-help books which have greatly assisted my perception of the world
5. I treasure the ability to spend a lot of time in nature
6. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to wander through the wilderness in different places around the globe
7. The luxury of being able to travel and meet people from different cultures has expanded my perspective and created a happy mind space.
8. Philosophical texts have provided me with a framework that has helped me develop mental toughness while remaining soft and open to the world around me
9. Meeting really wonderful humans while I have travelled the world has gently restored my faith in humanity
10. As a human, I have learned that being humane is crucial to leading a happy existence. It is also the thing that comes most naturally to us if we let it.

Health

1. I am so very grateful to have been able to run my first marathon
2. I feel blessed to have been able to run my first ultramarathon
3. I have met so many fantastic humans through running and who I am blessed to now call friends.
4. I am so happy to have discovered the joy of running. For a long time, I did not love to run but just did it to keep fit. My problem was that I did not run consistently and kept starting and stopping.
5. I love how achieving fitness goals that I did not think I could complete has helped me break through mental barriers that have held me back for years.
6. Being able to run wild and free is one of the best feelings on earth.
7. I love running in nature, especially remote places like the desert in South Australia or the stunning rainforests in Tasmania. When I am alone, I feel most connected to nature. The eerie silence does not scare me but fills me with a calmness, a calmness that makes me a better human.
8. I love at the age of 31 that I can still do cartwheels and gymnastics.
9. I am very happy that I discovered the importance of stretching and recovery. It has bee pivotal in staving off injury and in increasing my overall fitness.
10. I am very grateful that my body is strong and I look forward to many more crazy runs in the future.

Family

1. I am very grateful for my family, even though at times they can drive me crazy.
2. I feel lucky to come from a family that together can weather all storms.
3. I am in awe of the mental endurance we all seem to possess.
4. Even though we now span the globe, when we reconcile it is always an amusing spectacle when we have to communicate face to face.
5. Being an Irish family, I do love how we communicate is a way that is saturated with humour, dripping with sarcasm and void of any heartfelt sentiment.
6. I am blessed that I have three older brothers who all look out for me in their own little way.
7. I love my Irish Mammy, but as anyone with an Irish Mammy will tell you — they are tough to live with!
8. I love how my Mammy even at the age of 65 will come on mountain treks, and endure sludging through thick mud and ducking under thickets of branches as I lead the expedition off the beaten through a gale whipped landscape.
9. It is a special feeling when the family grows. I have loved becoming an Aunt and welcoming into the family my fantastic Sisters-In-Law.
10. I have never ending love for my extended family — my two incredibly loyal German Shepards who always greet me with unwavering warmth and excitement.

Fun

1. I am proud that I learned to play the ukulele while travelling. Previous to this getting the grasp of stringed instruments always eluded me.
2. I am also proud that I have now progressed to learning guitar.
3. I believe one of my greatest assets is optimism mixed with a dab of delusion. Which is why I throw myself in at the deep in by taking up jazz dancing and agree to perform live on stage.
4. I do think my ability to find humour in even the most miserable experience can be traced to my Irish origins but is also a prized asset.
5. I love how important it is to be good ‘craic’ in Ireland. If you are unfamiliar with this term, feel free to ask.
6. I am happy that I have retained a sunny disposition despite life throwing me many curveballs.
7. I feel young and hope to continue to feel these ways as the years stack up.
8. I love that my idea of fun is schlepping through mud or difficult terrain for hours on end.
9. My idea of a good weekend is one filled with expeditions into the wilderness, reading great books, eating great food and watching films from my childhood.
10. Food is one of the greatest joys of my life. The only thing that makes it better is sharing it.

That’s all folks!

I hope you enjoyed reading this list as much as I enjoyed creating it.

I encourage you to make your own list. Feel free to tag me if you do, I would love to read it