We love the aesthetic idea of "falling in love with life." It sounds delightful to eat your favorite foods, watch the sunrise, and romanticize every quiet coffee break. But treating your existence like a montage of pleasant scenes ignores the quiet, heavy structure required to keep the whole thing standing.
Watching the sunrise means nothing if you spend the next eight hours drifting through distraction, avoiding the very tasks that would secure your future. Small pleasures are supposed to be the reward for a disciplined life, not an escape hatch from a neglected one. When you use "appreciation" as a distraction from execution, you aren't living in the present—you are just taking a temporary break from your own anxiety.
Your life is happening right now, but it is not built out of background music and warm lighting. It is built out of the promises you keep when nobody is applauding. True self-respect comes from taking control of your daily schedule, clearing the barrier to entry, and protecting the hours you promised to dedicate to your growth.
Go ahead and read the book or play the song. But do it after you have paid the rent of daily effort. Make your life beautiful by making it work first.