Taking for granted everything you have in your life will only leave you feeling bitter and jaded. Feeling gratitude for what you have allows more abundance into your life because no matter what you have, you’ll feel happy. In short, the more content you can become with less, the more you’ll stop taking things for granted.

Having an honest appreciation for the simple things in life will take you a long way because you won’t have to play the comparison game. Keeping up with the Joneses’ doesn’t bring lasting happiness because material things and accomplishments can’t fill your soul. Therefore, you should feel grateful for what life brings you and practice non-attachment to anything material. This way, no matter if you have $5 or a million, your happiness remains the same.

With that said, people often take things for granted in life because they’re always in the pursuit of more, not appreciating what they already have. Make sure you stop taking these things for granted in your life.

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey

Here are 12 things to stop taking for granted today:

  1. Your family.

Sure, the family may get on your last nerve sometimes and make you want to pull your hair out, but they’ll stick by you during the tough times. We spend much of our daily lives with our family. So, of course, it becomes easy to take them for granted after a while. However, it sometimes takes the difficult moments in life to garner newfound appreciation for them. If you get stuck by a flat tire or lose your job, you’ll probably call someone in your family before anyone else.

Our family usually makes up a big part of our support system. Next time life throws you an unexpected hurdle and your family comes through to help you over it, make sure you tell them how grateful you are for them.

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  1. Friends

Your real friends will stand the test of time, no matter what you go through in life. The best kinds of friends also feel like family because they support you, cheer you on, and want the best for you in life. Life goes by pretty quickly these days, and we can’t always make time for our friends due to our jobs, kids, and other responsibilities. However, in your free time, make sure you give them a call or invite them over for coffee and show them your appreciation.

  1. Life in general

Life deals us all different hands, and sometimes we may feel shorted by our circumstances. However, there’s nothing in life you can’t overcome with willpower and determination, no matter what situation you find yourself in. Even with all the turmoil and struggles, life is still so beautiful. When you take for granted the experiences life gives you, it leaves no room for growth or introspection about the lessons you’ve learned.

Having an appreciation and remaining grateful for life, even in the hard times, ensures that nothing can bring you down. A positive attitude helps you rise above the most turbulent and stressful situations because you know that you have all the power to conquer the storm.

  1. Nature

Most of us take for granted the very elements and laws of physics that allow this Earth to exist. Without nature, we couldn’t survive on this planet, so we ought to treat our home with a lot more respect. You can show your thanks and appreciation for Mother Earth in many ways, from picking up trash along the road to merely feeling grateful for a home-cooked meal. Next time you go on a road trip or find yourself in a forest or on the beach, make sure to cherish all the gifts that nature gives you.

  1. Love

Without love, life wouldn’t have very much meaning, and we’d all be robots. The love we receive from our friends, family, and significant others helps make us whole and gives comfort in a sometimes cruel world. You can find genuine love everywhere if you keep your eyes and heart open to it because life is just a mirror. Whatever you feel inside, you’ll see on the outside. Maybe if we all found love inside ourselves first, the destruction and hate would all disappear.

  1. Your job

We all have to find a way to make an income somehow–unless we got fortunate and won the lottery or perhaps have a trust fund. Unfortunately, most people don’t enjoy their jobs and have them pay the bills. However, even if you don’t love your career or job, you can still find the little blessings that make it worth it. Even having a way to put food on the table and provide for your family should make you feel grateful for your work.

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  1. Yourself

We see an enormous amount of pressure on people in the world today, and these high expectations can put a damper on your self-esteem if you feel you don’t measure up. Give yourself some credit, though, and remember all the beautiful things about who you are. Please don’t compare yourself to others, either, because you have no idea what they deal with behind closed doors. Make sure to give yourself much self-love and care and show appreciation for the beautiful person you are.

  1. Where you live

As kids, we love to explore and get to know the world around us. When we grow up, however, our hometown starts to look a little drab and boring. We want to expand our horizons and dream of seeing new places, but we start taking for granted everything we used to love about home. Even if you live in a pretty uneventful area, you can always find something to be thankful for about where you grew up. You probably have so many excellent memories with friends and family in your hometown, so make sure to cherish them.

  1. The ability to learn new things

We came here to expand our consciousness and learn individual lessons, as well as to perform specific duties for our soul’s evolution. In life, you may go through periods where you feel unmotivated or uninterested in learning new things, and that’s normal. However, taking for granted your ability to absorb information will leave you stagnant if you don’t eventually decide to move forward. This doesn’t have to apply just to job training or career-advancing classes, either. Anything you do in life that makes you happy and offers a productive outlet is worth learning about and practicing.

  1. Your health

We only get one physical body in our lifetime, so it’s essential to care for it and treat it with respect. Taking for granted your health will only cause problems later in life when it’s not so easy to reverse the damage done by lifestyle choices. Start practicing good habits today, such as exercising, eating well, getting enough sleep, and meditating so you can reap the many extraodrinary benefits of a healthy body and mind.

  1. Your time

Many people don’t show appreciation or gratitude for their time, spending it frivolously. When you have moments of free time, you should spend them doing things you enjoy or that bring positivity into your life. It does not matter at all how you spend your time as long as it provides some type of benefit to you. If you plop down on the couch after work and spend hours in front of the TV, you probably won’t get much out of it.

Your free time shouldn’t be used as an escape from reality, but rather, a way to enhance your reality.

  1. Your energy

We all have a limited store of energy, so don’t allow people to drain your batteries if they offer nothing in return. Use your energy wisely, on people and activities that bring you joy and peace. If you spread yourself too thin, you have nothing to give to yourself and others. We can only do so much in a day, so get in the habit of saying “no” to anything that causes you too much stress. You have to put yourself first because no one else will.

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Final thoughts about things to stop taking for granted

Life comes with its share of troubles, but that doesn’t make it any less beautiful. Remaining grateful and showing appreciation for life allows you to see through a different lens. Even if the world crumbles around you, finding the silver lining makes everything much more comfortable to cope with. If you have sturdy shingles over your head, loving family and friends, a good job, clean water, and food on the table, then you have everything in the world at your fingertips.

Wanting more will only leave you feeling disillusioned after a while. So, the only way to make it out of this life with a shred of sanity is to keep moving forward and give thanks for what life gives you. Keep your mind on the here and now, and let everything work itself out, because it always does in some strange way.