11 Reasons Why I Had a Great Week

Photograpy: Marveling-Mind T-Shirt: 47 Productions

Looking back on my week, I was sleep deprived, behind in homework, and ridiculously busy but I can truly say I had a great week. It was not because of anything spectacular happening or me getting lucky, but more so about the mindset that I started the week off with that brought me through. I have decided to share 11 reasons why this past week was awesome. Hopefully you can take some of these things and make your week be nothing short of great.

1. I spent some time with family. In college it's really hard to see family all the time but last weekend my dad came to visit me. Even though he was on campus for just a few hours, it was totally enjoyable and gave us time and catch up in ways that cannot be done over the phone. My birthday is on Valentine's Day and usually the thoughts of how single I am enter my mind, but this year I decided to make my dad my Valentine and I even bought him some gifts to make it official. That was probably the most gratifying feeling I have felt all year because he was so shocked that I was willing to go out of my way and buy him something on a day the is supposedly supposed to be about me.
2. I was reminded how blessed I am. Not every weekend can be your birthday but the fact that it was my birthday made me take into consideration how God has been working in my life. The gifts, calls, hugs, prayers, and comments on social media literally had me in tears. Whether genuine or not, saying happy birthday to someone translates to "I appreciate you being alive" in my book, and that means a lot. People going out of their way to make me feel special always makes me count my blessings and I truly truly appreciated it.
3. I watched 5 episodes of Grey's Anatomy this week. This lies along the lines of "do what makes you happy". 
4. I studied the story of Samson. (Judges 12-16) There are many lessons to learn from the story of Samson but the main one that I took with me after meeting with one of my campus Chaplains was that God has a purpose for each one of our lives and the struggles we may be in currently could very likely be to get us closer to where we need to be.
5. I made the effort to make someone's day. I love love love when someone does something that turns my day from average to spectacular. It can be a conversation on the bus, buying me ice cream, or remembering that I had a test last week and taking the time to ask me about it. But whatever it is, it's contagious. A friend of mine bought me dinner and another got me ice cream while I was on campus Tuesday night. This was before I hit the library to study and just because of those acts of kindness, Wednesday morning I woke up in a good mood. That means I was more likely to smile at a stranger, not complain about an unfortunate circumstance (I was late to my 8am class Wednesday), and pass on the favor.
6. I volunteer. Volunteering is one of the highlights of my week. I volunteer with kids and that adds a double shot of joy because kids are hilarious. Four first-grade girls complimented the curls in my hair and that was enough to make my heart swell. 
7. My brother stopped by. This correlates with number 1 on the list. All we did was grab dinner, but he took me to somewhere where I got to show my ID (in my 3 day old 21+ adult life). That's something I will probably remember for a long time.
8. Late gifts. People always apologize for not giving you things exactly on your birthday. I couldn't care less, I love getting late texts/calls/gifts because it extends out the celebration of my birthday. So all the late packages were very appreciated.
9. I bought my ticket to see Beyonce. "treat yo' self" This should be self explanatory but one of my best friends and I will be getting in Formation this May with Queen Bey.
10. I watched a motivational video.  I stumbled across this video, check it out.