Adaptability and taking things for granted
We're very adaptable, us humans. We've populated all but the most extreme environments on the planet and even found ways of surviving, for relatively short periods, off the planet!
Our adaptability is one of the main things that has made us, for better or worse, the dominant species on planet earth.
As with most things though, this adaptability can be both a blessing and a curse. Although we're able to change and grow to allow for shifts in our circumstances (surely a positive trait) we're also always in danger of getting bored by our daily lives.
When we spend a long time doing something a particular way, living our lives in a predictable pattern, and spending our time with the same people, we fall into a mindset of taking things for granted.
I live with three extraordinary ladies (and an extraordinary dog).
Like any father, I think my two daughters are the best girls ever. But I still act the grumpy Dad, get annoyed with them, and get angry with them when they misbehave.
I take them for granted.
And I take Suzanne for granted too.
But what an amazing woman she is!
Just this week, Suzanne is playing in the National Symphony Orchestra, playing in the orchestra of the Irish National Opera, teaching ashtanga yoga at our shala and taking care of our family.
It takes a lot of dedication to become an authorised ashtanga yoga teacher. And it takes even more dedication to keep a shala open for ten years. It takes a massive amount of talent, practice, sensitivity and dedication to be a professional orchestral musician too. And Suzanne has all of that in spades.
I haven't been able to teach since the beginning of December. And I wasn't able to walk, or even drive, for a portion of that time. Suzanne has taken on so much since I've been laid low, and so I just wanted to write this so that you all know, and so that Suzanne herself knows, what an amazing woman she is.
And I've just realised that it's International Women's Day on Wednesday. Here's to all the amazing women in our lives.