I’ve been pondering the term “taken for granted” lately. There are so many things in my life I always thought I would be able to rely on that have rapidly turned into things that are quickly evaporating. Those things I thought I could always count on, are turning into massive uncertainties. I know that a big part of that is just seasonality and part of the typical business cycle, part of it for me has been related to trying to delegate responsibilities and free myself from time consuming tasks that distract me from pursuing other interests. All of those lately has led me to profound conclusion that I am counting on things that really are not guaranteed or owed to me. I’ve been taking them for granted. I’ve been expecting things to work without really understanding what the underlying key factors that drive them are or fulling engaging myself in doing the work to ensure the deck is stacked in my favor as much as I possibly can. 

I have allowed myself to be consumed with fear that I will not be able to do anything about it. This inevitably turns into a self fulfilling prophecy if I’m not careful. Additionally, that fear is entirely based on a false assumption. My fear is based on the assumption that these things should and would always be there and I could count on them. I had completely taken them for granted. I’d operated under the assumption that they would always be there for me.

I see now in an entirely new light what it means to take something for granted and the reason that statement is always phrased as a caution. Taking something for granted only leaves you with a fear or disappointment when it is gone. Everything changes, there is nothing you can really count on all of the time. The best thing I know is to live in the moment and do everything you possibly can to be present and enjoy what is before you. The people in your life, the health you have, and everything you have been given.

Don’t take anything for granted!