Recall a time when you’ve had a cold that stuffs up your sinuses so badly that you have to suck air through your mouth all day. It’s hard to sleep. It’s even hard to think. You suddenly realize what a luxury it was to just be able to breathe normally. You think to yourself, “When I can breathe through my nose again, it’s going to be so great. When this cold is over, I’m going to enjoy the hell out of this breathing thing! Oh breathing, I’ve taken you for granted all my life!”
Slowly, your cold goes away. But that joy you expected never comes — and if it does, it lasts maybe a day, an hour, a minute, or just a few breaths. Something that once promised happiness, is quickly taken for granted, and you move on with your life.
I’ve been horizontal for nine weeks now, and I’m starting to feel that walking, or even standing, is the greatest gift I could ever have. Almost every night, I have a dream that I’m doing something as basic as standing up in a shower, walking into a store, or hanging out in my van. These mundane things have literally become the stuff of dreams. But I know that as soon as I can walk, I’ll take it for granted and move on to trotting, skipping, frolicking, prancing, and the next natural step in that progression: climbing.
A couple of dips in Lime Creek
But wouldn’t it be great to remain in a state of perpetual happiness in appreciation of our most basic acts — to be forever delighted by the mundane? Unfortunately, this concept is so far from our nature that we consider it to be comical. One would be deemed quite insane if they were constantly overjoyed by their ability to walk down the road and breathe through their nose.
But I don’t think it’s so crazy. So this Thanksgiving, as everyone is taking turns saying what they’re thankful for (and if you are like me and struggle to answer questions under pressure) just be thankful that you’re breathing. Be thankful that you can walk. Be thankful that you can listen to the music, understand the conversation, or hear the sounds of dinner being prepared. Be thankful that you can see your friends, taste your drink, or smell your dinner.
Because while we don’t often know it until we lose it, the mundane is certainly something to be thankful for.