I find myself doing this more often than not nowadays. And I'm sure you all have done it before too.
Appreciating things after you don't have them anymore.
The sudden feeling of sadness that falls over you when you think of everything you took for granted that you no longer have in your life and wishing you could turn back time and start appreciating those things more. I feel like human beings never think to appreciate what we have right in front of us because we don't think about the possibility of never having them again. We don't eat at our favorite restaurant with the expectation that we'll never have the opportunity to eat there again. We don't have a visit with good friends thinking it's the last time we'll ever see them. I mean it's totally understandable why we don't appreciate things until they're gone.
If you think about it, we all have a little optimism within us; even the most negative people on earth have a little optimism burning inside them. The simple act of not assuming you'll never eat at your favorite taco place again is the optimism giving you the reassurance that you will, hence why you may not appreciate it in the moment. This is all totally okay also-why go through life assuming the worst in every situation? That doesn't seem like too much fun now, does it? It makes complete sense why people don't fully appreciate things in the moment.
This is why we don't appreciate things until they are gone. We don't have it anymore and it makes us think. The thing you never wanted to think about happening actually happened and you have to accept it. A good example would be me moving away from my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pa. I never truly appreciated what Pittsburgh had to offer me while I was there because, well, I was living there. I didn't think too much of what I'd be missing when I didn't live there anymore. I could go to my favorite restaurant whenever I was craving it and I could watch every Pirates game with no issue. I never thought about not being able to do that. Now that I live in Florida, I miss Pittsburgh and everything I used to routinely do there specifically because I can't do them here. I appreciate my hometown more than I ever did before because I'm not there anymore and can't get a Primanti Bros. sandwich whenever I want or go to the South Side. It's kind of like everything that used to be routine for me come as such a rarity now.
I guess what I'm getting at is, you never know when something in your life will change or come to end. We shouldn't feel bad about not appreciating something in the moment because we never know when it'll disappear. We'll make ourselves insane thinking about losing everything we love. I think just taking part in the activity is a way of appreciating it without actually knowing that you're appreciating it. Eating at your favorite restaurant is you supporting and appreciating it. Spending time with your friends is you appreciating them. You don't have to think about never having something again in order to appreciate it and you're not taking anything for granted. Just doing it is enough and deep down, you're totally appreciating it.
