Appreciate what you have

A mail was sent to my box and I thought I should share it with everyone as the message affects everyone in one way or the other.

“In most cases, especially in relationships, you will only get 80% of what you need and you will hardly get the other 20% that you want in your relationship.  There is always another person that you will meet and that will offer you the other 20% which is lacking in your relationship.

And believe me, 20% looks really good when you are not getting it at all.  But the problem is that you will always be tempted to leave that good 80% that you know you have, thinking that you will get something better with the other 20% that you want.  But as reality has proven, in most cases, you will always end up with having the 20% that you want and loosing the 80% that you really need and already have.

Be careful in deciding between what you need and what you want. Don’t throw away the 80% that you already have! That’s not all. Add to your spouse’s 80%, the 100% that represents all the years that you have been with each other.

Problems start to happen when you start looking for what you don’t have.  But faithfulness happens when you start thanking God for what you already have.  But I’m not just talking about marriage. I’m talking about life in general!  The main message! If you start appreciating what you have right now, wherever you are, you are first class!”

Men and women live in relationships and are sometimes unhappy because they do not get what they need from their partners or the other person. We have all seen divorce rates increase because of irreparable differences that could not be sorted out amicably. Most of all these differences could have been prevented if we had learned to appreciate what we already have. Unfortunately, there are times when our needs or wants cannot be fulfilled by the person we are with.

No matter how much people enjoy things being done for them, they at times fail to show the desired appreciation. They fail to realise that a sign of appreciation could be a thoughtful gesture. It often does not take much to show someone they are appreciated, it just takes deciding to do it and how.

When you do not show appreciation in relationships you risk the chance of running into trouble. It is one of the best expressions of love and care. It is extremely important to show appreciation to your partner, likewise in the relationship because as the saying goes, you never know the value of what you have until you lose it. Some people are often engrossed in what they hope to achieve forgetting what they already have. The little loopholes that we find in our relationships tend to make us forget the life of opportunity that we have. There is no relationship that is perfect and therefore we would always find one or two loopholes in our relationship with others.  “in the first place, why would any right thinking person decide to throw away a life of opportunities just for the sake of some bits of lustful gains, there is definitely no way that we can have all we want in a relationship, any relationship that is 100% perfect definitely has a problem because both parties are just pretending and that is even more dangerous for the relationship” says Binta Abdulhakeem.

A relationship where appreciation is shown regularly lasts longer and stronger than the ones where appreciation is neglected and shoved. When appreciation is neglected, people start to assume that they are not doing enough or their efforts are undermined. When you neglect appreciation in relationships, it starts to deteriorate and the place that once had love and joy will start to have faults, blames and problem after problem. It is very easy to see temptations outside as being the ultimate if we do not get every demand of ours granted by our partners or friends. But then, every wise person would know that it does not make sense flushing 80% of our happiness just because we need to get that 20% that is missing in our lives, as the adage goes ‘a bird in hand is worth two in the bush’. Is 80% of your happiness worth the missing 20%.