Appreciation and Gratitude
Sometimes we need to just step back and appreciate the little things in life.
I struggle with this.
A lot.
I’m kind of in a rush all the time. I want to be successful and achieve things NOW. I don’t want to wait. I want to be young and successful, not old and successful. But this means I’m overlooking a lot of the ‘little things’ in life. I’m not feeling a full sense of appreciation for the little wins I’m making every day. I’m not truly grateful for where I am in life right now.
I’m no superstar, and I’ve got a long way to go, but I think I’ve done pretty well so far. Compared to most 23 year old, I’m definitely above average. But I don’t celebrate it enough or show much appreciation for things. On one hand, it’s not good to celebrate too much and become complacent and stop improving. But on the other hand, you need to be able to achieve some level of contentment and happiness. We can’t always be deferring happiness until later in life. We can’t be waiting for that big event we’re we instantly become ‘successful’.
I’m currently working a typical 9-to-5 corporate job. I’m not happy. I’m beginning to worry more and more that if my next 40 working years are in a 9-to-5 corporate job, I’ll never be happy. This is why I’m desperate to start building things and achieving things now so I can get out!
The Little Things
The blue hair and the blue guitar
As part of my constant striving for improvement, I read every day on my commute to and from work. It’s about a 25 minute train trip and I try to get fully focused to read as much as I can. On the walks either side of the train ride, I listen to podcasts. So from door to door, it’s podcast for 10 minutes, read for 25, podcast for 10. During the day I try to get a few hours of podcasts in too. I switch it off when I really need to think and concentrate on my work, but if I’m just doing menial tasks I can listen to the podcasts and work away in the background.
Yesterday was different.
After work, I got on the train, crammed into a seat and pulled my book out to start reading as I always do. But this time, I heard a soft, sweet song somewhere. I looked up and there was a cute little hipster girl with light blue hair and a dark blue guitar. She was playing and singing. And she was pretty bloody good. I don’t know if they were original songs or not, but they were just nice and soft and slow.
I put my book away and for that 25 minute train ride, I just listened. I took it in, looked around, listened, and thought about life. It was a really nice break. It’s probably illegal to busk on public transport, I don’t know or care, but she just had a little tin out and two or three people dropped money in as they got off at their station. I enjoyed the trip so much that I gave her everything I had in my wallet (I wrote that to sound impressive, but really it was only $15 – who carries cash these days?). That time just listening and pondering wouldn’t have happened otherwise, and it was well worth the $15. I was really thankful for her music.
The rain
I got off the train at my stop just as the heavens were opening up. I’d left work a bit early because I saw a storm brewing and wanted to try and get home before it hit. My timing was about 6 minutes off! From out of nowhere, it just started bucketing. I didn’t have an umbrella and there was nothing I could do about the weather. I had only two options. One, I could wait in the train station until the rain stopped. It might’ve rained all night, who knows. Or two, just go for it, get wet, and try and show some appreciation.
So I went for it.
I didn’t curse the gods for sending us a storm. I didn’t feel ripped off by the universe because my nice suit was getting soaked. There was nothing I could do to change my situation. So I didn’t run and try to keep my head down. I just strolled powerfully looking up to the sky and appreciated life. I appreciated the fact the I was alive. I felt the rain on my face and just kept going. I was thankful for the fact that in about 8 minutes, I would be at my home and I could get warm and dry. Whilst I was forcing myself to think, it didn’t feel forced. I WAS truly grateful that I had a home to go to. I need open my eyes to more opportunities like this were I can develop a true sense of appreciation.
Your life’s purpose
To finish it off, here’s a quote that really stuck out to me when I first read it. I thought back to this yesterday. It’s from the book Anything You Want by Derek Sivers: “If you think your life’s purpose needs to hit you like a lightning bolt, you’ll overlook the little day-to-day things that fascinate you”. Start noticing those little every day things that fascinate you and try to feel a sense of gratitude and appreciation. Yesterday’s commute home was one instance where I switched off and appreciated the music and the rain. I need to do this more often.