Mornings are perfect in my apartment. I watch the sunrise above Hollywood and the Los Angeles skyline… I see traffic and joggers on the streets below my balcony… it’s a perfect way to begin a day. I appreciate everything about mornings… how it makes me feel… how it gives me hope… how lucky I am to be here. I spent five decades on this planet completely miserable. Those days are gone!
I could go for hours listing the things that I appreciate the most. Things like family, friends, an education, pugs & MJ that I can come home to. But I could not appreciate any of these things without sobriety. If I wasn’t sober … none of it would be mine.
People all around me are living in poverty. Each morning I probably walk past a half dozen homeless people on my street before 10:00 A.M. …. They do not have homes, jobs, or a family. But it always seems people who have nothing, have something they appreciate. There is that one special thing that makes them happy. I’ve noticed it might be a dog or a battered guitar or a funny slogan on a sign used to beg for money. Maybe it’s laughing with another homeless person next to them…. All of them seem to have found a moment’s joy in a really rough world.
“People say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew what you had, you just never thought you’d lose it.”
This is a common thing once a relationship reaches its conclusion. When you become complacent with your partner, it is easy to fall into this trap. Happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting what you don’t have, rather it’s recognizing and appreciating what you do have. If someone once made you happy, there is a great chance they still will. Think about it — maybe you are bored with your familiar routine, but that doesn’t mean you should get rid of it. Don’t lose something you have for something you think you want.
When people break up, it’s common to regret it. You end the relationship because you can think you can do better, but once you’re out there in the dating world, you realize you had something amazing. Sometimes it is too little too late and you must learn from your unfortunate decision. What screws a person up is trying to live up to image they create in their minds. There is no such thing as perfect, only perfect for you.
“Appreciate what you have before it becomes what you had.”
What you have now was once everything you strove to attain. Just because something becomes repetitive does not mean it needs to be replaced. Think of how lucky you are to have someone you can be completely comfortable around, that is a true gift and one that should be cherished at all times.
Appreciate all the things you have in life because you never know when that time will end. Clear the clutter inside your mind and realize what you have right now. Don’t wait until you’ve lost it to finally see how much you took it for granted. Don’t wait until you realize that without it, your foundation to make it through each day begins to crumble.
“Someone else is happier with less than what you have.”
Too many times people don’t realize what they have because they are out there looking for something better. The problem is that when they do realize it, they will come crawling back. Everyone falls into the trap that the grass is always greener on the other side. People make mistakes, it’s part of human nature. If you really love this person it may be in both people’s best interest to give him or her another chance. Sometimes space makes people appreciate things they once had. You need to make it clear that you forgive one time, and one time only, and if this is what you truly want.
However on the flip side, you can only want something when you haven’t got it. If you had it back, you would only get fed up with all the bad bits again and start wondering why you wanted it back in the first place. When you lose someone, you tend to remember the good parts, when you are with them, you tend to notice the bad parts; this is of course until you find the one you were truly meant to be with, and then the bad bits just seem endearing.
“Don’t take things for granted because they might not be there tomorrow.”
The thing is, very few people can see the impact of what they do now and how it relates to their futures. Which would you rather regret: the present, where you have no idea what is happening as it’s in real time and you haven’t the slightest conception of long-term consequences; or the past where you can take your time to see things as they were? People make mistakes and leave the things they love most. They fail to appreciate the good thing they once had and as a result will continuously regret their decision.
People constantly want something more, something new, but sometimes the most valuable things are what have been with us at all times. Just because something isn’t happening for you right now does not mean that it never will. Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. Just like you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, you don’t know what you’ve been missing until it arrives.
I have no idea how long I’m gonna be here… quite frankly, I don’t know how I’ve been able to survive everything thing I’ve done… I know I have now… I have everything I need to be happy and I have someone to share it with…. I appreciate the chance to finally be living!
This is my journey… this is my life!
Rob Cantrell
Rob Cantrell 