28/10/2025
How to Stop Taking Your Life for Granted- by Josh Whitta
We become so used to the flow of our life — the routine, the responsibilities — that we eventually find ourselves seeking more than what we have. It’s part of the human spirit and what has allowed us to be where we are today. Yet a consequence of that is we begin to see what we have as not enough, poking holes in its imperfections because we find the lack we feel within the things we already have.
What used to be cute becomes annoying. What we used to love, we come to resent. Where our intentions go, our attention goes.
We start to take what we have for granted because we see it in an unfulfilling light that doesn’t allow us to feel the wholeness we are seeking — because what we want becomes separate from what we have.
There are two ways we can realise our life is the blessing we so deeply seek.
1. When Life Forces You to See It
The first way is what Eden and I have just experienced — life changes drastically, and your world is flipped upside down. Over the weekend, our little pup Lila presented serious health issues, to the point of full-body seizures and convulsions. We spent most of the weekend at the vet, and her condition worsened. Late Sunday night, after medication helped settle her seizures, we brought her home to rest.
When we woke Monday morning, we noticed a shift — she wanted to play and resembled the little chomp hippo we know so well.
Something I sometimes saw as inconvenient or annoying was now pure love and joy. To see her happy and comfortable made me tear up, and I found myself just appreciating something I’d grown used to before the weekend we’d had. I realised I’d been taking for granted — even getting annoyed by — the very thing now bringing tears to my eyes.
Sometimes it takes a great shift in our reality for us to see the beauty in what we have. In that moment, nothing else matters.
The only problem with learning this way is that it depends on external, often extreme, circumstances to help us see our life differently. And while powerful, that perspective is usually brought on by hardship. This is how most people learn — but there’s another way.
2. When You Choose to See It
It’s not your life that needs to change; it’s your mind. To create the life we want, we must see it and align with it in our mind’s eye.
Too often, people dream of the reality they want but separate from the one they have. This distance leaves us feeling our present moment is insufficient — and so that is what we see.
Learn to focus your attention and see that your life is the blessing and abundance you seek. We don’t need drastic circumstances to see our life differently; we just need to recognise where our focus is and direct it toward the good that already exists.
If your perspective can shift after hardship, then you have the ability to shift it anytime. The ability to see differently is always there — it just requires focus.
Two Simple Shifts
Taking things for granted is the same as being ungrateful. We focus on the inconvenience people or situations bring instead of what they offer.
Shift your attention to what they do bring:
The partner who cooks dinner, holds space, and makes you laugh.
The pet that loves you unconditionally.
The car that gets you to work and creates opportunities.
The food that fuels your body and energy.
Start to see the gratitude beneath the things you’ve become accustomed to. Notice how they serve you and imagine your life without them. The more you focus here, the more your awareness and gratitude will grow — and the less you’ll take for granted.
The next step is to think of something you desire — something you feel you need to be happier or more fulfilled — and explore the feeling beneath it.
If you want more money, perhaps it’s abundance or peace you seek. The physical things we want are symbols of what we feel we lack within. If you can connect to the feeling, you’ll begin to heal.
Once you’ve found that feeling, look for where it already exists in your life. The abundance you seek is in the roof over your head, the food you eat, the privilege of travel. The peace you seek exists in quiet moments or shared space with those you love.
The Choice
To stop taking your life for granted, you can either focus on what you love and see that you already have what you seek — or wait for life to show you.
One empowers you to create the change you desire. The other forces it upon you.
Life is constant change. What matters is where you place your focus. You have the ability to create a reality of gratitude and love, or one that feels separate from it.
You can see the blessings that exist here and now… or spend the rest of your life chasing them.
