Never Take Anything for Granted
Life
truly is a beautiful thing despite the fact that some things make it
very hard to remember that. We all have our bad days, weeks, months,
but in the end the sun always comes back. With all of the beautiful
things life has to offer comes our unfortunate habit of taking them
for granted. No matter how hard we try, we all do it at some point in
our lives. Recent world and personal events have been making me
ponder this fact as well as a few others, and I decided why not make
my next (slightly overdue) post about this.
Think
of how often you go to the grocery store and just grab the
ingredients you need for dinner that night. You really don’t think
even for a second how much time and effort was put into getting that
very item on the shelves of your local grocery store. Anyone who
knows me or just follows me at all on any of my social media posts
knows for the past few summers I have taken up gardening. Every year
for the past 3 or 4 years I have planted a vegetable garden, each
year with decent success. The other night when I was out there
watering my plants I got to thinking just how much work goes into
each and every fruit produced from that garden.
 |
| My garden in all its glory :-P ... pardon the lawn from our very dry summer this year! |
This
year I decided to expand my garden and dig out a 7’x10’ section
of the backyard (by hand mind you, took 2 days and a lot of sweat and
tears) which I then had to purchase twelve 40 lb bags of soil to fill
it with and mix in plant food, then even it all out before I even
planted the seedlings, which I also started from seeds myself this
year. Once I finally planted the seedlings, I also have to make sure
I water every day and weed frequently to make sure the plants stay
healthy. A month and a half later and only a few
vegetables have been harvested from my garden. I have baby cucumbers,
tomatoes, green beans, and squash all over the place, but there are
still weeks standing between now and harvesting those. So much time
and energy is dedicated to something that takes us a few minutes to
purchase from the store, and even less time to scarf down.
If
you are reading this post you are blessed. By that I mean you
obviously have access to a computer or cell phone, have shelter,
enough food to eat, a warm bed at night. Most likely if you are
reading these words you have all of those things. Take a second to
think about how many people in the world probably do not have any of
those things. One should always take a moment here and there to truly
think about all the blessings they have in their life. Even when
things get really tough, you think you are at rock bottom, that
things can't get much worse... you still have a lot of things some
people would do anything for. Everyone is entitled to be sad and have
their off days... we are only human. Take time to mourn or get angry
or whatever it may be, but when you can, remember just how many
things you do have in your life.
To
everyone reading this do me a favor.. tell your loved ones you love
them. Call them, text them, shoot them a facebook message. Whatever
it takes. Appreciate your loved ones at every second of every single
day because although it is so cliché to say, you truly never know
how much time you have left with them. Do not for one single second
take your loved ones for granted.
Your
health is something you also should never take for granted. Up until
this year I would be the pot calling the kettle black here, but go to
your annual check ups. I HATE going to the doctor's office. Most
likely due to always getting lectured about my weight growing up. I
went on an almost 7 year hiatus from my annual physicals because of
this. Luckily this year when I finally decided to have a routine
check-up everything was fine, but that can change so fast. Just
because you seem healthy now, it is not guaranteed that will be the
case tomorrow. Take care of yourself first, then you can take care of
others.
My
main point in all of this rambling is to NEVER take anything for
granted! I know this is next to impossible... we are only human, we
all do it, but try and take some time each and every day to think
about everything you have in your life. Maybe even try picturing your
life without something or someone. Do not wait until it is too late
to realize what you had.
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