The 'little' things - by Rubie Targema-Takema

   I recently just discovered something, as little and as insignificant as it sounds, it is the absolute truth. As human beings there are a lot of things we seem to take for granted, a lot of times we're not even conscious of it. We don't see it worthy enough to appreciate it by even a 'thank you'.

   I have a housemate who was always kind and considerate enough to put off the heater each time she was done in the bathroom, she had been doing it since we all moved in together and it really is something we all should do each time we use the shower but for some reason, since she always did it, we always left it for her to do. Prior to that, she would always tell us once in a while to please not forget to switch it off, and even when she said so, she would still go back to check before she left the house. It became the norm for us for her to do it. By the way, it is a process to switch it off but she always found the time to do it even when she was rushing. My other housemates and I never saw it as anything for her, we never appreciated her with even a thank you or just something to let her know that we acknowledge the fact that she's doing something we're all meant to do.

Two weeks ago she travelled for the holiday, in real sense, her leaving for holiday didn't mean that the heater should be left on always but because we always left it for her to do, and got use to the fact she always did it, we left it on for 8 days and on that 8th morning, someone went in to use the bathroom and found it spoilt. It refused to come on, and we couldn't fix it. Of course we were to blame but no one would take the blame for it. P.s we ended up spending a ton of money just to fix it.

   Moral of this story: that little thing someone is doing for you, no matter how little it is, show the person you see what they are doing and say thank you. Don't wait till you are without it to appreciate it. You can be sure that we all called my housemate that was away and said a big thank you for all the times she put it off when we forgot to and refusing to listen to her when she reminded us to do it. She was so thrilled just by that gesture.

   We tend to take the smallest things for granted and whether we know or not, the person performing the action also feels taken for granted. Something happens when we appreciate people, it's something natural, I think its more psychological but even me as a person, I know how I feel when someone notices my effort and says thank you.

  Recently I learnt that being grateful makes what you have enough. be thankful and appreciative even for the smallest things.