And life has a funny way of doing that, doesn’t it?
The things that bring you a comfort you don’t even think about can one day become distant memories.
You wish you could go back and experience them just one more time, yet life has taken you on a different course, and for whatever reason, they’re no longer within reach.
That’s why the art of appreciation should never be lost or taken for granted. We can stop, acknowledge these 8 everyday comforts, and make the most of them while we have them.
Nothing about life is permanent, but while we have what we have, we can learn to value what it gives us.
1. Hearing the people you love talking in your home.
There’s nothing quite like it, is there? You’ve got your own home, and the people you love are over for dinner or just to spend time with you. You hear their laughter, chatter, and musings come together like a familiar gentle hum of warmth.
It can feel like that being the visitor, too. To be in the presence of loving family or friends feels special, often even more so when multiple generations come together at once.
Think back to when you were little, running around in the garden with your siblings or cousins, and every now and then you’d look up and see the faces of your parents, aunts, grandparents looking over at you, enjoying the energy of your youth.
Now you might be the parent, aunt, or grandparent, and it hits differently. It’s a comfort that won’t always be around, as loved ones age or move away.
Being together like that is something to appreciate. When you’ve got those who matter in your life and your home, not much else can beat it.
2. The luxury of having nothing to do on a single day.
Do you ever get those days where you have nothing at all to do?
I’ve been known to do twice as much the day before so that the next day I can literally do nothing.
I greet my couch with the familiar twinkle in my eye, and I’m there for the day.
I get to decide what I want to do, and even though watching TV or reading a book is still something, it’s on my own terms, and in my eyes constitutes nothing.
I don’t understand people who are always busy, and who never make time just to be. I love my own company, and those nothing days are vital to my sanity.
I’m happy to switch off, tune out of the world and its varying disasters, and sit in that bliss for a while.
I consider it a luxury to have nothing to do. If nobody is asking anything of you, and you’ve run all your urgent errands, why not put a little balance into your life and use a day?
Life changes in the blink of an eye, and one day the opportunity to be so carefree may not exist on such a regular basis.
Make the most of it whenever you can; that’s what I say!
3. Waking up without pain and having your body carry you through another day.
I watch my son in the mornings, hopping out of bed and coming down the stairs with a bounce in his step.
Oh, to be 12.
I’m not 100 years old by any stretch, but boy, do I feel it sometimes.
Having hypermobility means I get caught out sometimes, waking up with a sore hip or knee or some other complaint. When I was 12, I didn’t think any of that would exist for me. I thought my young, flexible, pain-free body was always going to stay, well, pain-free.
Little did I know…!
Knowing that your body is feeling good and taking care of you as it should is a comfort most of us take for granted until it stops doing so.
4. Being able to sleep peacefully.
Around 1 in 3 adults don’t get the recommended amount of uninterrupted sleep they need to protect their health. As insomnia is largely caused by stress and anxiety, that’s a lot of people suffering.
That stress and anxiety often come from external life factors, and so for people who now find sleep a challenge, it likely wasn’t always that way. They probably once found sleep to be a place of peaceful slumber, rather than an additional strain.
We simply don’t realize how important sleep is until we aren’t getting enough of it. Personally, I have struggled with it for years, and when I get bad bouts of being unable to switch off, it does affect my mental health and becomes a vicious cycle.
Nothing is ever made easy by feeling low, and no problem is solved by adding more problems to it.
5. Being able to prepare and cook a meal we love.
I wasn’t surprised to read recently that for some people cooking is a great way to unwind, with many experiencing benefits to their mental health when they do so.
It doesn’t matter if you’re just cooking a simple meal; the point is that you are taking your time to be mindful and enjoying the process of preparing food that you love to eat.
You’re in your kitchen with your cupboards. You want to make something specific and delicious, and you get to do that.
Cooking for many (but not all) is a comfort.
It’s easy to lose that privilege when life gets busy, or when you’re stressed or rushed. I think about people with hectic lives who have to grab breakfast on their way out the door, settling for a banana or an oat bar.
Then of course, there are times in life where we lose the ability to cook like we used to. Age, illness, or injury can prevent us from being able to sink into the kitchen and be culinary creative. It’s something many of us take for granted until life throws that curveball.
6. Being able to listen to music you love.
I know this may seem like a strange one, but music can literally unlock memories and emotions.
That’s lovely, but it can get a little emotionally complex when certain songs remind you of people you may have lost. Or when a particular track reminds you of a part of your past you wish was still relevant to you today.
For me, there is a certain song I love, but I simply cannot listen to because of who it reminds me of.
When that song plays, I’m not just listening to it; I’m remembering everything about that particular person. It unlocks moments we shared, what ifs, maybes, and one days.
That’s why music is wonderful until something happens in life that makes those songs take on a whole new meaning.
Appreciating that music is something I try to do, but I guess old memories and emotions are stronger than that appreciation.
It’s similar to hearing a loved one’s favorite song, and then having to hear it at their funeral. It changes how you feel about it.
7. Doing the school run.
For those exhausted parents out there… hear me out.
The school run can be grueling. If you have to drive, you will not appreciate the traffic. It certainly isn’t a comfort to sit a mile into a traffic jam knowing your child will get that late mark yet again.
But there is comfort in making sure your child gets into school, and then collecting them at the end of the day.
Yes, they may be covered in paint, but they’re safe in your arms and happy to see you. Cherish those earlier years before they get older and start asking you for money to go out with friends, while you sit at home hoping they’re okay.
We all age, and we cannot possibly press pause and keep our kids safe forever, but those everyday, mundane moments with your child are an opportunity to enjoy their younger years.
I used to stop in the park near my house on the way home from dropping my son off. The older he got, the less I walked with him, as he’d walk the rest of the way himself.
At the beginning he’d turn round intermittently for those waves, but they eventually got less and less, the less he needed my reassurance. I still stood there, watching him like a hawk, but I had to learn to let him go.
Life lifes, and you can’t stop time.
Final thoughts…
We take more than we think for granted, and I’m guilty of it as much as anybody else.
We assume that what brings us comfort will always be a part of our lives, but life teaches us that those things can be taken away in the blink of an eye.
I don’t think it’s always our fault that we don’t pause to consider the positive impact such comforts bring us. Life is busy and hard, and it seems we often only have the bittersweet ability to reflect on what used to be.
But perhaps now is a good time for us all to pause and think about what we love and how finite those comforts truly are.
