Your Life Is A Movie, Are You The Director?

YOUR LIFE IS A

MOVIE, ARE YOU THE DIRECTOR?

In every person’s life, there is always “the moment.” The moment they realize they’ve been living a life where they were playing the supporting role rather than the main character in their own movie. It’s been said that in our lives we get two lives, and your second life begins when you realize you only have one.

TAKING MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS

If you’re eager to jumpstart your “moment,” there’s some good and bad news. There really isn’t a rulebook to go by. For most people, the epiphany comes naturally. It could be at a moment you least expect it.

If you’ve downloaded TikTok you’ve probably heard the famous “you have to start romanticizing your life” sound created by Ashley Ward. This sound began a viral chain of users attaching clips and videos of them romanticizing their lives. The extremes vary from letting your feet dangle out of a helicopter flying over NYC to waking up extra early to watch the sunrise with your best friends.

The point of this trend is to remind yourself that you are the main character in the film that is your life. You are the writer, director and main star all in one. You have the ability to decide what your movie looks like and change it as many times as you want until you get to your happy ending. So start investing in all of those small details in your movie. Remember that the major details like genre, co-stars, setting, plot, all the way to the small things like wardrobe and hairstyle are up to you. If you’re unhappy with the way your movie has been playing out, you have the ability to change it within yourself.

SOUNDS GOOD … BUT HOW DO I START?

Ok, let’s slow this down a bit. Romanticizing your life is, simply put, finding the silver lining in every situation. By definition, to romanticize is to “hold romantic ideas or present details, incidents or people in a romantic way.” Emphasis on the hold. You hold the power to your perspective. Sticking with the film references, you hold the power to the plot of your movie.

Still a bit confused? Here’s a visual. It’s 5 p.m. You had one of the worst days of the semester. You missed your alarm so you were late for class, forgot to study for your test, Chipotle ran

out of chicken and steak so you had to settle for carnitas and went to Urban Outfitters to buy the cute bralette you’ve been saving up for to find out they don’t have your size. When you get home, you realize your roommates locked the door and you don’t have your key. All you’re thinking is, “Could this day get any worse?” The unbiased, actual answer is yes — it could.

Now it’s time to put your directing skills to use, let’s romanticize. You woke up a little later than expected, you rewarded your body with some much needed hours of sleep. Chipotle was out of your usual order, so you got to try something new. Your roommates locked you out, so you decided to take advantage of the opportunity by getting some fresh air by going for a walk. The main concept of romanticizing is remembering you are in control. All of those “big” and “small” things don’t have to be so major or minimal in your life. The best part of your day could be getting an A on that really hard test you studied hours for or catching the beautiful sunset on the way back from grocery shopping.

STARTING YOUR JOURNEY

Who better to explain how to truly begin your journey of finding the beauty in the small things than the creator of the TikTok trend herself? VALLEY reached out to Ward to discuss the concept and get some tips. She referred us to her podcast on Spotify called “Living for the Small Moments.” In the first episode of this podcast, “Being the Main Character and Romanticizing Your Life,” Ward gives listeners a detailed howto on finding the beauty in the little things in life.

“When I say that you need to start romanticizing your life it means that you need to start thinking of everything in your life like it is something special — because it is,” Ward says. “Like a sunset is something special. It changes colors every night. That’s something special. The little things in life are the things that are going to make you happy so when you start romanticizing them, and really thinking about them like they’re miracles changes the way you look at things. It changes the way that life feels to you, and if you don’t do that, life will continue to pass you by and all the little things that make it so beautiful will go unnoticed.”

We asked Ward how her life has changed ever since she began practicing this ideology.

“It changed the way I saw things. It changed the way that I was looking at life and looking at the world,” Ward says. “ It makes life feel so much better. It will make you feel so much happier because you understand [the hard work] that goes into it. I’d be lying if I said I felt like this all the time. I don’t. It’s not something that once you start seeing these things and start feeling that way that it sticks. It doesn’t. Everybody has bad days and bad moments that you feel down or feel like there’s no point. So it’s not all rainbows, but those days where you do feel the appreciation and do focus on the little things, those days make the bad days bearable.”

Seeing the beauty and making the most out of each day opens your eyes up to a whole new perspective on your life. Appreciate the little things and reclaim your spot as the main character in your story. What are you waiting for?