The term, take for granted, relates to when a person 'doesn't fully appreciate something or someone in their life' and I believe all of us are or have been guilty of it.
In my #weekend-engagement topics I've added one around taking things for granted and I felt inclined to add my own response, something I very rarely do. If you're so inclined you can check out the topics post by following this link.
My life has been interesting, a collection of many experiences, thoughts, emotions and things, of highs and lows, success, failure, massive effort and action and moments of inaction also...It's been special in my opinion; more special than anyone else's? I'm not sure as I've never lived any one else's life. It's been a good one though and I've learned many lessons and one of the most valuable has been the ethos of never taking what I have or have around me for granted - That translates to being respectful of myself, others, the material items I have and to feel and show gratitude for them. I think I've done a good job. However, looking back...yes, I've taken things for granted.
Sleep
I can recall sleeping so soundly and restfully back in the day and never feeling any gratitude for that sleep.
Now...I'm lucky to get five hours of sleep a night and that's often broken sleep meaning I wake up two or three times then struggle to get back to sleep. Why? I'm not willing to go into it here as most of you won't understand, some won't care and others may want to give me unsolicited advice on the manner which I don't need. Sometimes I get a good sleep though, it's splendid and very welcome (if rare) when it happens and nope, I do not take it for granted any more.
My grandfather
This is one of my biggest regrets, that I didn't spend more time with him before he died and took for granted that he was there.
He died when I was about eighteen and I'd lived my whole life with him around because he and my nana lived with us in the homestead my family owned. We did things together, spent time, but over my childhood and youth I had so many things tugging me here and there that I didn't spend as much time as I (now looking back) would have liked. This situation causes me to treasure the memories I have of course, but I took for granted that he'd always be there back then and I look upon it now as having taken him for granted generally. It makes me sad.
Health
I remember being able to run through walls (not always literally), to recover quickly from injuries or wounds, to have immense physical strength and endurance and the ability to sustain a high operational tempo seemingly endlessly; I hardly got sick, never went to the doctor and felt invincible. Did I stop to show gratitude at the time? No, I took it for granted and pushed on.
These days, well I'm no weakling and still have strength and endurance the ability to do difficult things...but I have a medical condition, a serious one, and that inhibits what I can do and when to some degree - and I recover far more slowly. I'm probably way more active than the average person (I work hard at it) but I'm certainly nowhere near the same man I was in younger years. It fucken sucks! Looking back, I should have been more grateful for what I had, maybe looked after myself a little better, knees, back, head (concussions), wore ear plugs to mitigate all the load bangs going on around me...but I took my health for granted. Now...I show gratitude for waking up each day and in a reasonable state of physical (and mental) health and never take it for granted.
That's it...a basic response to my own topic in the #weekend-engagement topics for week 212.
Reading this back makes me feel a little annoyed with myself for having taken these things for granted but I was working with what I had and knew at the time I guess and making decisions based on the present rather than what may occur in the future. I've learned that a little balance in that respect, a little forethought, is a better way to go and that's what I work around now.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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Image(s) in this post are my own
Not being able to get good solid sleep sucks period. 15 minute power naps seem to be the order of the day sometimes.
It is good you have some memories of your grandpa and grandma. It sounds likehe was a very special influence. I think it would have been so cool to have known mine.
Getting old ain't for sissies.
They don't use sleep deprivation as an interrogation technique for no reason...it can break a person down quite quickly. I wish I could get better sleep but a power nap now and then helps... difficult to do when working though.
I wish you peace and restful sleep soon.
When I was also younger I recover quickly from whatever injury but now that I'm older, I try to avoid any injuries because I know how long it will take to recover
Getting older isn't much fun in that respect.
It's human nature sometimes to take things for granted, and of course it's always nice to "look back" and do these reflections once in a while.
I agree, and if we understands we're doing it, it can be a good learning opportunity to carry forward.
In those moments when you take things for granted... you did what you could with the tools you had and you never suspect that you will take it for granted later.
You do what you can with what you have learned and what you have, don't feel bad about it, maybe those things were there to learn, I'm sure that's how it is, life is like that.
I think the first one has happened to me, yes the first one for sure... the second one I was very young when I lost my grandfather, I enjoyed it as much as I could and the third one, because I am much healthier now than when I was a child. Except for that tear in my leg, for the rest....
Now you look at things from a different perspective, lesson learned.
Perspective is one of the things we acquire over time especially when looking at ourselves. It's a good lesson but one some don't gain, or choose to ignore.
Many prefer to ignore it. I prefer to look at myself and self-reflect in order to move forward, that's how it is.
I battle daily with self loathing and regret.
It take effort to be happy with what I have achieved. Character flaw I guess. But I do try to overcome it and be my best self.
I too have the sleep demons. My mind races 100 mph and robs me of that much needed sleep...
The good thing is you know those things plague you which means it's possible to work towards mitigating them...the hard part is making that happen. I guess (self) forgiveness is a good place to start, and momentum will build from there.
I think the term Hindsight is always 20/20 is apt here. We will always have something to regret when we look bac, and it is difficult to see how our actions would affect the future. We just need to do the best we can, with the knowledge and experience that we have now. If we have any regrets now, we just need to avoid making the same mistake in the future.
I agree, no more to add as you've wrapped it up well.
Hi Galen, this proposed topic was somehow very present in my thoughts a few years ago. I guess, that in any balance about the life we have led is a fundamental issue. And raise it, and reflect on it, is the only way to improve our life looking to the future.
I felt very identified with the relationship with your grandfather. When I was 14 years old, my maternal grandmother, who lived with us, died. Then, I realized how many times I argued with her about stupid things and how much time I wasted on that shit. This is irreparable, but it helped me, from a very young age, to appreciate the presence of my family.
My idea, which is present in all your publications, is the following: we can't change the past, but we build the present ourselves.
A very strong hug
I'm pleased you've seen to the core of the topics and something I write about a lot, the theme of learning from the past and carrying it forward to make a better future.
Have a nice weekend.
Good health is what most people take for granted. We need to know we aren't perfect so mistakes are definitely normal. So we should just learn from our mistakes and move on.
Intelligently spoken. ✅
I'm sure your grandpa will always be looking after you. He will be sad, if you're sad. We may experience the lows of the lows in life but I'm sure you'll be able to bounce back. We can be weaklings at times, but remember we are humans, we have the guts to endure any pain. I hope you gain your physical strength more. Best of luck.
Well said, and I hope you have a nice rest of the weekend.
My father is now 78 years old and in great shape. I think this is because he has proper nutrition and constant physical activity in the fresh air. At 48 years old, I sometimes wonder if I can be this healthy at 70+ years old. But I don’t care, I just want to raise children and give them something important in this life.
I hope you maintain your health into your older age and that you look back and feel contentment about how you've raised your children..
Honestly I have learned to appreciate every moment of my life, reflecting on when I had it all its making feel that I was ungrateful then, life never remains the same, it moves back and forth, sometimes good to bad or bad to good, but the greatest is that we are alive.
Keep pushing.
It seems like you're on a good trajectory.
Lol, I move myself , noting moves me to action hahahahah
But why do you think so?
Because you said you have learned to appreciate every moment.
Lol yes, experiences in life actually thought me that.
I think that a lot of people take health for granted in their younger years. I am glad that my health is still more or less not bad. I think I inherited weak eyes from my dad (and I am sure that reading books and being in front of the screens didn't help either.) Both me and my mother have some mental issues. But we can move and are not in pain. I am really glad that my teeth are still good. The last time I went to teeth doctor was a while ago. That is nice because fixing teeth is expensive and I already spent a lot for new glasses.
Health is a very important part of life and focusing in maintaining it, whilst difficult and costly sometimes, is often the best way forward.
Taking health for granted at young age must be one of the more common flaws of humans across the whole world.
If I could go back in time, telling young me to buy Bitcoin would be the 2nd thing I say, because 1st thing would be to say to keep your health, you will appreciate that in your years to come.
I don't know if it's a flaw so much as a mistake people with limited experience make.
When we are young we take a lot of things for granted, that about your grandfather reminded me of myself with my parents you think they will always be there, it's a hard lesson in life,
I hope you can control that thing that stops you and interrupts your sleep and that you sleep at least 7 hours. What I am glad is that now you learned to be thankful, I wish you good life and health.
I've always been thankful, I'm not sure why you would say I was not. Ignorance maybe.
I only said it because of this, maybe I misunderstood.
Hello galenkp!
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