Sometimes I fancy myself a photographer.

Recently, when my old laptop died and I had to move all of my files to this new one, I found myself going through my old photos. This image, in particular, caught my eye.

I had been walking through the campus of our local college a few years ago, and most every flower bed and tree was in bloom.

I took this photo, and as you can probably tell, I did a bit of post-production on it.

What drew me to this shot was the pink of the trees, and the red and white of the tulips, set against the backdrop of a now empty (dead?) building. So that’s what I brought out in this photograph.

Vibrant color, thriving in so much gray.

I’m not a “love and light and positivity” person. I don’t think of myself as especially gloomy or negative, but I also don’t put on rose-colored glasses and live my life in pink when things are clearly horrible.

I do think it’s both good and necessary to recognize and acknowledge when pleasant things happen in unpleasant times, though.

In fact, I think that it can be life-saving.

During these last many months, I’ve picked up a few new skills, read tons of books I’ve always meant to read, and deepened and strengthened my relationships with the people closest to me. And taking a few minutes every day to remember that has been very good for my mental health.

I highly recommend you give it a try yourself.

The world is kind of hideous right now, and it might get uglier before it gets better, but there’s also beauty hidden here and there—and you’re allowed to appreciate it when you see it.