Another peaceful, beautiful week has just passed. I feel so blessed sitting here and documenting it.

Last week was a good one. There were many little high notes: I made myself dumplings, went for a fulfilling long run on the first day of September, and one morning, when I opened the door, the autumn breeze made me feel almost tipsily happy. But out of all those moments, there is one I especially want to remember.

The Moment I Want to Remember

I went hiking on Saturday. It had been a while since I had last been in the mountains, and I didn’t realize how much I had missed it.

The moment that stayed with me most came when I finally reached the top and found a perfect giant stone to lie on. I lay there, looking up at the sky. Swallows and dragonflies were flying around, and the magnificent clouds kept changing their shapes above me. The stone beneath me felt warm, and the sky seemed endlessly vast. At that moment, I forgave all the pain I had felt during the climb. I felt a kind of joy rising from somewhere deep inside me.

Nature is truly magic. I can’t remember how many times I’ve found myself completely drawn in by the magnificence of nature, feeling incredibly lucky just to be there in that particular moment. I hope I can keep that moment in my head forever. Whenever I think about it, I can still feel a little bit of that happiness embracing me.

When Life Still Hurts

Of course, life wasn’t completely painless last week. My low note was my back pain.

I was diagnosed with a lumbar disc protrusion many years ago. As I’ve been training and staying active, I thought my back was getting better. But last week, I had to deal with constant pain almost every day. Even while hiking, I could feel it every now and then.

I’ve been pretty careful with my back, but some pain just doesn’t go away easily. Not being able to move freely without pain is a real torture for me. And sometimes, it scares me to think that the pain might always be there. What if I become too old to fight back? What if one day I lose the freedom to simply walk around, let alone run or do anything physical?

Health and strength are incredibly important. I don’t think I can remind myself of that enough.

Learning to Live With Both

What struck me most was that even when I was lying on that warm stone, watching the sky and feeling unbelievably happy, the pain was still there. It followed me like a shadow I couldn’t quite shake off. And maybe that’s just what life is. There can be pain and happiness at the exact same time. There can be things we are afraid of while there are still beautiful moments happening right in front of us.

I don’t want to wait until everything is perfect before allowing myself to feel happy. I want to notice the warm stone beneath me. I want to feel the autumn breeze when I open the door. I want to enjoy my dumplings, go for my long runs, climb mountains, watch the clouds, and keep collecting these little moments.

Life is hard most of the time, but those sparkling high notes make everything worthwhile, even the painful parts.

Keep Loving My Little Life

Overall, the past week left me with far more good memories than suffering. I’m grateful that life has treated me so well, as always. And I’ll keep loving my stupid little life. I’ll keep trying to live in the process rather than aiming only for the goals.

Maybe that’s what I want to remember from this week: Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. Sometimes, a warm stone, a wide sky, and a few quiet minutes are enough to remind me that I’m lucky to be here.

Happy new week. Until next time~