UNITED STATES—It’s amazing how we take things for granted in life. The basic essentials like water, air, light, gas, food, clothing and shelter just to name a few. Can you imagine living without electricity? For many of us, it would be something impossible for many of us to grasp, but it happened to me this past weekend. A wind storm out of the blue, took out power to nearly a quarter million people in my region. Would you say I was frustrated? Yeah, but at the same time it really just put into perspective to me how important it is to cherish the things that I do have, but at the same time be more aware of the time that we sometimes let pass us by without thinking.

I think the biggest concern for me was that I had no internet access; I was not able to charge my cell phone, unable to utilize my iPad, no Cable TV. Do you see my drift? Everything I’m talking about here is technological. We rely on technology way too much and not having power for 2 consecutive days, put into perspective for me that there is more to life than just technology. I mean I had actual conversations, ones about life, my aspirations, frustrations with work, career goals and so much more.

In essence, not having power helped me think, and I mean really ‘think’ and not just sit around and brood about not having this or that. It was nice to not have the internet. I didn’t have to worry about checking emails for work, I didn’t have to stress about worrying about this or that being completed. In simplicity, I was able to relax, something that I am rarely able to ever do and it felt terrific. I mean it’s not like we need electricity to survive, for centuries electricity didn’t exist and we fared well, but you appreciate it so much more when you have it. In the days of not having power, I was able to clean the house from top to bottom.

Some of you might be saying how did you clean without power? Well, you have natural light, I still had hot water so all I needed was the cleaning tools and everything was easy. I mopped the entire house from top to bottom, cleaned windows and tables, dusted and vacuumed as well.

I guess my point to this conversation is not having electricity was not the end of the world, I survived and we need to take a moment to think about life and not worry so much about the minute and stupid things that we think are deal breakers if we don’t have them in our lives. I will admit I was slightly annoyed by the power outage because I went to the grocery store that morning before heading to work, to come back and discover the power was out, so food items had to be tossed. It was wasted money down the drain that I was none too happy about to say the least. I guess this is a rule of thumb, if the news warns you that high winds are expected for the day and there is a chance the power could go out, it might be wise to hold off on heading to the supermarket.

I’m someone who hates wasting food and I mean that without any hesitation in my voice. So what was the first thing I did when the power came back on? I charged my cell phone, my laptop and my iPad. I know I know it’s bad, but I needed to get some important work down so I finished that as soon as possible. I hate that nagging feeling of knowing something has to be done, but you can’t do it or you procrastinated because you don’t want to confront the issue.

The biggest thing I learned from this issue is that I love having electricity, but at the same time it became a realization to me that I need to conserve the electricity that I have and not waste it. What you have today can be taken away tomorrow, but at the same time in life, its materialistic things. Those things don’t matter in the long run as there is so much more to life.