Enjoy It

At 40 or 50, you may feel that you're no longer that young. Yet when you reach 70 or 80, you'll likely look back and say, “I was so young back then!”

I think this happens to us throughout life: we don't fully appreciate what we have until we lose it. Free time, friends, the climate of our city, our parents, our work, even the challenges of raising children.

Too often, we complain about what we have or take it for granted. But once it's gone, its value becomes immeasurable.

When you no longer have a minute to yourself, you look back fondly on the days when time seemed to move more slowly. When friends drift away, you realize how much they enriched your life. When gray days stretch on, you appreciate the sunshine. When your parents are gone, you understand the value of every moment you shared with them. When your children leave home, you miss that noisy, demanding, vibrant presence.

There's a saying:

"We were so happy and didn't even know it."

Perhaps the invitation is simple: recognize that many of the things you take for granted today are actually part of your happiness.

And if you're happy today, even if you don't fully realize it...

enjoy it.