Don’t take your life for granted

«What does your life mean to you?» Have you ever asked yourself this question? Have you ever really contemplated what your life is to you, the power of it? Because I think not many have ever stopped to think about the deep importance of life. And I do have. 

If someone ever asks you what you think life is, you’d probably give a quick answer, an answer everybody knows and uses in this kind of situations, such as “life is very valuable”, “I always try to live my life and squeeze it to the maximum”, but I can promise you that you have never stopped to appreciate life as it is. And yes, life is very valuable, but do you even know why or what for? 

I think the problem here is that we don’t enjoy the little things. We always remember the big moments, the memorable ones, such as a vacation, a birthday, a graduation, and of course those are moments of happiness, I’m not telling you otherwise, but we never appreciate that much or even at all the little things in life, and you know what, those are the best things, those are the moments we live for. 

What about sunsets and sunrises? Don’t you think they are one of the best and most beautiful things of nature? And let me tell you, seeing them with your friends on a summer evening and even staying awake all night just to see the sunrise with them is just so great. And don’t you like feeling the grass on your bare feet? Or on the sand too. It is such an amazing feeling, you just feel the freshness of the grass running all over your body as much as the heat of the sand on the beach.

Oh well, and that moment when you’re in a car ride with your friends on a never ending gravel road you don’t even know where it leads, and your favourite song starts playing, I can swear the level of adrenalin and vitality you feel in that moment is unexplainable. 

And what comes next is something not everyone will agree with but all of us know it’s true, and it’s when we get compliments. Either from someone you really like, from a friend or even from someone you don’t know, we always feel well when we receive a compliment, and I don’t only mean a “You look beautiful!” but also a “Great job!”, “I’m so proud of you”, “You’re simply amazing and you don’t even notice it”..., because let me tell you, those things just hit you differently. Being supported by a friend or someone we love gives us a feeling of coziness towards that person that we can’t even describe. 

Actually there are so many little things we don’t notice but they are way too important in our lives, they can have an important effect on us. Have you ever realized how sneezing, the smell of chocolate or sunbathing can make you feel? Just that kind of things can seem so insignificant to us but they’re actually so satisfying. What about rollercoasters? That feeling of adrenalin that surrounds you when you’re coming down from the top of the rollercoaster is so exciting and exhilarating. Besides, not many people realize the power of people’s eyes. They’re one of the best little things in life in my opinion. You may know what’s like staring into someone’s eyes and feeling some kind of spiritual connection between the two of you, lots of unexplainable and I’d say, ineffable emotions running through your minds, so then you may know that this is one of the best feelings and situations ever. We don’t really realize how big the power of eye contact is. 

And what about the fears? Well, the fears. When we hear the word “fear” what comes to our mind is usually something terrifying. We think about something that could scare the hell out of us, such as a ghost, an apparition or just someone giving us a scare. But “fear” stands for much more than that. Fears can be way more beneficial than we think. Whenever I talk about fears, I’m not referring to panic and terrifying scenes but to the other kind of fears. The fear we feel when we have to talk to someone new. The fear of exposing ourselves. The fear that takes control of us at the time of doing something that we expect is about to have such an effect on our lives. I’m talking about the fear of insecurity, of uncertainty and the hesitation that comes with it. 

During our entire life we avoid doing things that put us in an insecure position, we don’t usually like the feeling of being scared, scared about the final result that will have what you’re about to do, but tell me, isn’t just amazing taking the risk and winning? You cannot spend your whole life waiting for the right moment to do something. You have to make any moment into the right moment. Life is short, you haven’t got time to hesitate and overthink, if you want something, go for it, don’t play it safe because life’s too short and you have to make the most of it, so take the risk. Just try it and see what happens, because you have nothing to lose, so what if you win? Make the desire stronger than the fear because I promise you it’s better remembering than asking ‘what if...’ 

So never give up on what you desire, enjoy the little things in life because they’re the ones left in the end, take that risk and don’t miss the opportunities life brings you, because life’s too short to take it for granted.