The Things We Took for Granted

Sometimes it takes a little perspective to have true appreciation.

The shift to awe and reverence.

By Ian O’Laughlin

Airline travel can be one of the most daunting and frustrating things in life; parking, long lines, longer waits, security, delays, crowds, overpriced food, annoying people. Too many frustrations to even count. Now imagine being 6’2” and cramming into a seat in the back of the coach cabin on the airplane for hours with no way to stretch out. Frustration turns into back pain, a headache, and anxiety as I wait for the experience to be over. Don’t even get me started on the bathrooms.

Then, the pandemic hits. It makes the frustrations of airline travel look like a humble joke.

Fast forward to today and here I sit crammed in coach at 30,000 feet as I write this thinking, “Oh my god! I can’t believe how much I use to take this for granted!” I’ve had a lot of those moments since the pandemic started. Basic services, everyday freedoms, even the ability to jet off at any moment to warm weather and sandy beaches can now be counted as things that I just took for granted.

I sit here mid-flight after a peaceful meditation, looking out the window at the turquoise waters of the Gulf of Mexico far below. I find myself reflecting on gratitude and wonder. Same size plane, same size seats, same everything. A very different inner appreciation.

Today, instead of annoyance, I find myself focusing on appreciation. I’m thinking about how many thousands of human beings have had to cooperate, directly and indirectly over the years, just for me to have this basic experience today. For just a few hundred dollars I can be whisked away through the air from a 16° winter storm in Detroit to an 80° tropical paradise in Puerto Morelos.

My thoughts are overflowing with how many dreamers, designers, builders, architects, engineers, assemblers, maintenance and service workers, how many countless people and how many long years that it took just for me to have this experience now. Generations of hard work and determination.

I find it a very curious phenomenon that disruption of modern life through a global calamity can slow things down and be an opportunity to reflect deeply on life. It shifts us out of an old mindset, one of taking life for granted. These things, these frustrations, these annoyances are now measured with a new perspective.

Standing Head To Knee Pose… 30’ below the jungle floor in a Cenotes cavern, Thrive Retreat Feb 2022

Napoleon Hills, who's work I greatly admire, describes a Law of Nature; "In every adversity, there is the seed of an equivalent blessing". The pandemic has been a massive adversity, so according to this Law of Nature, there must be a massive blessing coming out of it. Of the blessings I'm feeling right now I find gratitude, wonder, deep appreciation of life where I used to take it for granted. We see old frustrations through a new lens for the wonder they truly are, blessings.

Take a moment to reflect on the adversities you’ve experienced over the past couple years and try to see them through a new lens. I hope that, if you look hard enough, you will find your blessings too.

-Ian