We Need To Appreciate The Simple Moments In Our Lives

Life is a collection of simple and routine moments.

As a student, your day-to-day life consists of waking up, getting dressed, going to school, working, studying, showering, eating and sleeping in between.

Weekends are pretty much the same, slightly differing with social gatherings and a little more sleep.

This pattern of living follows us as we transition from post-secondary education into the workforce. 

With each unremarkable day bleeding into the next, it can be tempting to conclude that our lives are boring. 

But upon closer examination, we see that our mundane lives are actually extraordinary. 

For one, we have a beating heart and a functioning mind. 

We live in a world filled with flourishing flora and fauna, yet we are the only creatures with high cognitive functions, such as logical reasoning, memory and problem solving, that enable us to study and understand our environment.

Our capacity for language and empathy allows us to share stories, make jokes, teach lessons and develop meaningful relationships. 

We also have vehicles through which we live and breathe—our bodies.

Whether it’s making the bed, brushing our teeth, cleaning our rooms, writing an essay, solving math equations or testing a hypothesis, our bodies enable us to do things that make us living encyclopedias of experience. 

Then there’s the beauty of nature.

The sun peeks through the horizon every morning, waiting to hug our faces with its warm beams. 

Gusts of wind often bristle through trees and brush against our faces.

Blue jays chirp melodic tunes and invite us to decipher their conversations.

All these simple details do not even begin to capture the myriad of gifts that each day brings. Yet, because they’re so simple and common, it’s easy for us to overlook their value. 

We live in a fast-paced world governed by business, materialism and distractions that tells us we need to constantly be striving for more. 

Instagram and TikTok tell us we would be happier if we had the lives of the people circulating through our feeds; movies tell us we would be complete if we had a romantic relationship; school tells us we would be better if we made straight A’s and earned entry into Ivy League institutions.

As days go by, our minds become more wrapped up with these concerns and we fail to appreciate the beauty that calls out for our attention every day. 

Ironically, though, we live in an age that’s also obsessed with capturing the moment. That’s the reason why many of us feel the need to record every second of a concert and take 375 pictures of us “having fun,” then never look at them again. 

We recognize the importance of capturing the moments, because once they are gone, we can only go back to our memories. 

That’s why it’s important to be mindful of the simple details that comprise our everyday lives. 

There will be a day when it will be difficult to get out of bed, brush our teeth and hear birds chirping. 

We need to appreciate life’s simple moments while we still have them. They might even teach us something in the process.