Taking Life for Granted

I would like to think I am not an incredibly selfish person, that I realize other people out there have way more difficult things to deal with than I do but every once in a while something happens that just slaps me in the face and makes me realize how truly blessed I am. Yesterday I covered two stories that did just that. The first was a ribbon cutting for an intensive physical therapy center that treats little kids with disorders that make it difficult, if not impossible for them to walk, stand and develop normal motor functions. But despite having to use a walker or little crutches these 4-year-olds were so so happy. They got to cut the ribbon for the opening of the center and they were so excited about it. Their little faces lit up and it was so inspiring.
The second story was at a Recreation and Habilitation center where they work with older adults that have mental disabilities. These are people that have the brain function of 5 to 8 year olds. They have been learning for the past several months about food labels, portion control, nutrition and exercise and some of them have lost more than 60 pounds. I went to their little class and weigh-in and again it was so inspiring. They got so excited to have lost 2 pounds, when I lose 2 pounds I complain because I only lost 2 pounds. They all cheered each other on and celebrated each others successes and were excited for themselves. One of the girls in the class came up to me afterwards introduced herself as Angie and said "You look pretty today." I would never have dreamed of saying, "Oh I don't either," like I would say to any one of my friends. Instead I just said Thank You and knew that she meant it because of the smile on her face and light in her eyes. It makes me wonder why we can't all be like that? Just yesterday I was telling a friend of mine who recently had a baby how good she looked but she insisted that no, she didn't look good she was still fat. I said four different times how I thought she looked really good and never once did she say thank you or "You know what I am back to my pre-baby weight and that is exciting!" I am not criticizing her because I do the exact same thing every single day, and it makes me think that maybe we are taking life for granted. If we aren't celebrating our successes, no matter how small and being grateful for every single day that we wake up and get out of bed then we are being selfish. Because there are people out there who can't get out of bed on their own, who can't get dressed by themselves and like a girl I interviewed the other day said, "People who are dealing with a lot bigger things than a bad hair day." She was a volunteer at a grief support group for people who had lost members of their family. And she was right!! I complain if I have to get up early and don't have time to make coffee and about a million other things that don't matter but it could be so so much worse. I am not saying I am going to go forward from this point and be perfect and never complain about trivial things again because well that just won't happen. But I want to make it a new priority in my life to slow down, stop and realize that there are great things in my life, things that I should be celebrating every single day. I want to try harder to not take my health, my job, my family, my life for granted.