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By Drucilla Brown

Guest Columnist

Never take what you have for granted. My 16 years have taught me never to take certain things for granted because one day you’ll wish you hadn’t. My whole childhood, I wished for this and that to be better, and the entire time, I lost sight of life’s important things. There are a lot of things that I wished I hadn’t taken for granted, and if I could take it back, I would. Somehow, I’m wishing life could go back to how it was before I started wishing things would change because now things feel like they’re just getting worse as the days go on.

We fail to appreciate what we have and only realize its value once it’s gone.

A few people take their safety for granted. We live in a secure home in a somewhat safe neighborhood. Most are not afraid to sleep at night. Very few assume that it’ll always be there. Sometimes, you don’t even realize you took something for granted until you lose it or a memory reminds you of what you took for granted. Another thing is our health. You may think you’re the most healthy person on earth and haven’t gone to the doctor, but you never know what may happen just because you decided not to go.

Never taking anything for granted helps you learn about new challenges and experiences. It’ll help you see what will be better for you in the future. Never knowing time will always be a possibility in taking things in life for granted because you’ll never know when that could be gone, so don’t ever waste it. I lost someone very important to me almost four years ago, and there’s so many things I wish I hadn’t taken for granted because I miss that person dearly every day. Like the days I didn’t feel like going to their house. Now I wish I could run to her house. Losing that person felt like I lost a part of myself, and to this day, I wish I could go back in time and change everything because time had cut us short.

That’s what I will always hate about life — never knowing when you’re going to lose something. I never believed anyone when they told me not to take anything for granted, but these past couple of years have shown me I should’ve listened to them because I feel like I would be such a happier person. So, please never take anything for granted because you’ll realize that you should’ve listened to the people around you.