Don’t Forget About the Things You Already Have

Wherein you learn that you’re better off than you were…and worse off than you will be.

A common word in pop-psyche talk is gratefulness. We’re endlessly told to be grateful for the things we have.

We’re usually told this when we express how we wish we had what someone else already has.

This has been the case for me.

But this gratefulness talk is cliché. That is, it doesn’t pack the emotional and intellectual punch it once did.

“Be grateful for what you have” almost never manages to communicate what it’s supposed to.

Why?

Because many of us interpret this as a concession.

What many of us hear when we’re told to be grateful is that we should just accept our situation in life…no matter what.

Even if our life situation sucks.

I want to suggest that our lives don’t suck as much as we might think they do.

But to see that, we have to find a way to look at our situation in a different light. That’s the key to this whole thing.

I’m not suggesting we should be grateful for the way our lives are. Maybe that kind of thing works for some people.

But if you’re anything like me, it just doesn’t work. I receive no motivation, energy, or increased self-worth in the notion to just be grateful.

Epicurus—the ancient Epicurean philosopher—said something profound about our life situations.

He said: “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

This is my suggestion: Don’t merely be grateful. Screw that. Instead, remember.

Remember a time when your life stunk worse than it does right now.

Maybe that was before you got married. Or before you landed your current job. Or before you decided to bring home that dog from the shelter…which has now become a jewel in your life.

By remembering a time when our lives were worse than they are now, we can find contentment in what we do have right now.

And the best part?

Life isn’t over.

My life isn’t over.

And your life isn’t over.

Woohoo!

There will come a time in the future when you remember where you’re at right now and think: I’m so glad I’m where I am now. Back then really blew chunks.

We’re perpetually in a state of flux.

As I often tell my wife: I love you more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.

The same is true of our lives: We are better today than some time in the past, but we are worse now relative to some time in the future.

And that’s great news!

Don’t forget about what you have right now.