Appreciating What’s Valuable To Us

Living without appreciating important aspects of life is something that we all fall victim to, a difficulty we should strive to improve on. The only problem is, how do we fix this?
We have to remember what holds value to us. So many things in our life play major roles in shaping who we are. Whether it’s our family, home, school, and friends. These qualities become so normal to our daily life that we tend to forget how valuable they really are.
Last week, I decided to take a walk to the mailbox instead of driving like I usually do. It was spontaneous and felt like a fun activity to do. Right when I left my house, everything felt so vivid and beautiful. The sky was a rich light blue, the street was clean, and birds were chirping as I walked along the sidewalk. It was peaceful and made me feel secure.
Despite the beautiful scenery, a wave of confusion was stuck in my mind. Confusion over the fact that these qualities are present every day, yet I don’t notice them. Homes don’t leave because they feel like it, and although the sky might not be the same color everyday, it’s always a beautiful sight to see. I realized that I’ve become so caught up in my daily schedule that I forgot how valuable everything is.
Walking to the mailbox doesn’t seem like a blessing, but it really is. What’s required for this is 1. A Mailbox and 2. Walking. These two factors alone aren’t given to everyone. Unfortunately, some people don’t even have a mailbox to walk to, and for some people walking isn’t a possibility. It isn’t that I’m unappreciative of having both qualities, but instead the fact that it’s grown to feel so normal that it doesn’t even seem valuable. I then realized this was the case for multiple things in my life.
Many of us don’t show their appreciation towards their loved ones every day, including me. My parents aren’t just adults who feed me and tell me when to go to bed. They are my best friends. Throughout my life, I’ve shared countless experiences with both my mother and father that truly impacted my life. One specifically was the time I learned how to complete an oil change with my dad. Overall, it’s fairly simple. There’s the oil and filter, and both need to be replaced with new ones after a certain amount of time. This lesson wasn’t impactful only because I can now perform oil changes on my car. The experience I had really showed me a lot beyond changing oil.
My dad proves the stereotype of dads knowing everything about everything true. Whenever there’s an issue with anything, he always knows how to help. When he decided to teach me how to change the oil on our car, he taught me two key concepts. Firstly, I can do all things. I paid attention to every step he explained, and with enough practice I started to get the hang of it. Secondly, that he means the world to me. Although it was a lesson about cars, the major take away I got from it was how much my dad means to me. In these moments, I’m reminded how wise he is, and how lucky I am to have him by my side. Looking at it, it’s sad knowing that I don’t acknowledge that value and how much it means to me every single day. That realization led me to work towards improvement in appreciating value in my life. As little as a match of cornhole with my dad, or match of ping-pong with my sister, is something I now cherish, which before went without it.
It shouldn’t take a major event to finally make us realize our fault in appreciating important parts of our life. It’s okay to be distracted, if it weren’t then none of us would go through it. School, jobs, and dreams are what keep us so busy and that is totally acceptable. However, it isn’t an excuse to live without appreciating.
The famous phrase “Anything can change in an instant” isn’t famous for no reason, it’s true. To prevent that feeling of regret once something from our lives is gone, we need to change now. Change towards a more positive outlook on life, and acknowledge what truly is valuable.