no easy love

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now listening: "Wherever I Go" by OneRepublic

I'd certainly be lying if I said I found my daily walks around my neighborhood deeply enthralling everyday. Embarrassingly enough, I do follow roughly the same routine.

Head out after my (lofty) dinner at around eight, pause in front of our porch because, wow, the golden light is streaking through the leaves of regal red foliage as they flutter in the soft breeze, continue forth, contemplate whether I should turn left or right, ultimately decide upon left because I'll feel the sun hit my face at just the right angle, remember to walk carefully so I don't trip over the one slab of sidewalk that insists on standing a few inches above the others, make a (futile) attempt to remain nonchalant as a passerby's dog starts growling at me ferociously for reasons unknown (seriously, why must passing by dogs be a humiliation ritual?), gaze up at the pale blue sky as it melts into a soft purple by the end of my walk, breathe in the cool air a final time.

And yet, for a routine I follow as closely as this, walking never feels quite the same each day.

I do admit, it seems pretty hard to find novelty nowadays when everything around you remains unchanging with time, fixed in routine. I guess this is also why part of me will always yearn for my youth, where practically every day came with its own fresh adventure, even if that adventure was just me successfully sliding down the Burger King playground slide. Even now, although I do acknowledge that the oh-so-impending concept that is college will come with its own promised newness for me to live, how long does that initial burst of novelty truly live before it dies off, too?

At this point, I find myself returning to the very line that inspired this blog, taken from OneRepublic's "Wherever I Go":

"No easy love could ever make me feel the same."

Maybe there is such thing as "easy love" that we can accidentally fall into. A love that requires nothing on our behalf, a one-sided friendship if you will. Easy love is a simple appreciation for the art found in our surroundings, for the art found in nature, for its simple beauty. 

Yet between days, the sun's red hue has changed to be just ever so slightly pink, a new crack has formed in the otherwise same concrete path I've exhausted countless times. So I suppose in that sense, art is much less about the literal scenes, works, experiences we come across. Maybe it is instead our own response, when we've finally chosen to move beyond an "easy love," towards a renewed, returned attention that pushes us to ponder the seemingly mundane in both its minute variations and constancy, even when it'd be easier not to.

As I now see it, art doesn't fall into either novelty or routine. So as I navigate my world beyond high school, I hope to find art in both the new and familiar experiences (like walking!) that I undergo. Rather than latching onto fleeting senses of novelty, I want to expose myself to what's already present and embrace it in a different manner each time. 

The ability to do just that, to me, defines art. ☺︎


(I did have a hard time choosing the very last song-of-blog, so I will leave some honorable bangers below for my own peace of mind.  And just a side note, in all of high school I've only ever blogged this year, and it has really been one of my favorite parts of this class! I'd like to think maybe I'll continue blogging even just for fun in the future...so maybe this won't be the very last song-of-blog after all? But well, just to be safe:

- "Backseat" by Balu Brigada

- "I Ain't Worried" by OneRepublic

- "Bleed" by Malcolm Todd and Omar Apollo

- "Sunset Vision" by Rebounder

- "El Verano" by Bandalos Chinos)

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