The first time I was in the UK, I was fortunate enough to be dog-sitting in Plymouth. It was the summer of 2019, the weather was glorious, and I was able to visit multiple National Trust properties, including an actual castle.

The photo above, as mundane as it may seem, means a lot to me. I have always loved flowers, but while I lived in Australia, I wasn’t actually that excited by the thought of having them inside regularly. But this particular simple arrangement made me appreciate them. There is something about the quality of the light over here that makes them infinitely more appealing to me.

Now I regularly have flowers in my home. Although I do have to consider how often I do this in the current cost of living crisis, they bring me a lot of joy.

Why am I saying this?

Well, sometimes I forget, as surely we all do, how beautiful my life actually can be. That I have achieved things I always hoped to achieve, that I have things now that I used to dream of, that my life would make me five years ago stop and stare.

Flowers are one of my reminders of that. Ever since I took this photo, I hoped that one day I would be the kind of person who always has flowers. And now I am.

So put down the news, put down the panic for a minute. And appreciate what you have, the way you would have appreciated it five years ago.

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Jena Ren – 2022