It has become so woven into banal quotes and every day conversation that we lose the wisdom of the advice.
Somebody says, “count your blessings,” and we roll our eyes. Someone says, “be happy for what you have,” and we say, “yeah, yeah, I know.”
But if you actually pause... long pause... and you think about your advantages and even your current problems, there’s a whole litany of greatness you take for granted, including perspective advice. That’s fairly ironic.
For six years, I haven’t worried about “promos” or “closeouts” or “deadlines” or a meeting I “have to” attend. There are greater pressures I’ve faced, ones which non-business-owners would never want to face; but I’ve come to forget how good I have it without the other problems.
Saturdays I spend all day with my family. And yesterday while enjoying that, I had each kid cuddled up to me and my wife by my side. And I thought, “I get this every day.” Because it’s every day, it’s easy to lose the luster, to focus on the challenges, to turn your mind toward what you DON’T have.
Everyone reading this has literacy. Most are able to walk to their faucet and rely on water. Moreover, most aren’t practically concerned that that water will make them ill for a week or leave them dead a few days later. You can log into the greatest information database in human history. You have more reliable heat and shelter than the kings of the past.
There are a great many real issues in the world, many inequities, many wrongs worth fighting to make right. I don’t dismiss that. But, if you only immerse yourself in the battle, you will miss the things already won.
Don’t take for granted the advice “don’t take it for granted.”
Somebody says, “count your blessings,” and we roll our eyes. Someone says, “be happy for what you have,” and we say, “yeah, yeah, I know.”
But if you actually pause... long pause... and you think about your advantages and even your current problems, there’s a whole litany of greatness you take for granted, including perspective advice. That’s fairly ironic.
For six years, I haven’t worried about “promos” or “closeouts” or “deadlines” or a meeting I “have to” attend. There are greater pressures I’ve faced, ones which non-business-owners would never want to face; but I’ve come to forget how good I have it without the other problems.
Saturdays I spend all day with my family. And yesterday while enjoying that, I had each kid cuddled up to me and my wife by my side. And I thought, “I get this every day.” Because it’s every day, it’s easy to lose the luster, to focus on the challenges, to turn your mind toward what you DON’T have.
Everyone reading this has literacy. Most are able to walk to their faucet and rely on water. Moreover, most aren’t practically concerned that that water will make them ill for a week or leave them dead a few days later. You can log into the greatest information database in human history. You have more reliable heat and shelter than the kings of the past.
There are a great many real issues in the world, many inequities, many wrongs worth fighting to make right. I don’t dismiss that. But, if you only immerse yourself in the battle, you will miss the things already won.
Don’t take for granted the advice “don’t take it for granted.”