The Trivialization of Little Things

Have you ever found yourself thinking someone was being intentionally arrogant because they didn't feel it necessary to celebrate something that happened in their life? To them, it just wasn't a "Big Deal." Conversely, how often have you been the one others were baffled by because of how little significance you attached to your own milestones? I’m sure in both instances, the answer is a non-zero number.

Quite frequently, people are left puzzled as to whether I am just arrogant or if I genuinely believe certain things are not worth celebrating. To be clear, it is certainly the latter. I can think of a dozen scenarios from birthdays to graduations where people have struggled to get me to celebrate. While I admit these events are objectively important, I often fail to see the "Big Deal" because I genuinely do not feel they require it. At the back of my mind, I wonder: What is the expectation of going to school other than to excel? What is there to celebrate about a new week, a month, or a birthday beyond being internally grateful? When someone achieves something like giving a speech at a venue considered prestigious or hard to reach, it is often viewed by others as a massive victory. Yet, I often find myself wondering why there is so much emphasis on the venue or the eloquence of a delivery rather than just the task itself.

This mindset, however, carries a secondary trap. Because I attach so little significance to my own milestones, I often end up assuming the same should be true for others. I find myself neglecting their wins entirely or not being fully present because I cannot help but wonder how someone would even celebrate such a thing. It is not born out of arrogance, but out of a genuine disconnect. Because those things might come easily to me, or because they simply don't seem worth the fanfare, I fail to understand the significance they hold for the person across from me.

In my desire to constantly look forward to the next big milestone, I have effectively trivialized the little things. Consequently, I’ve begun to lose a sense of what is truly worth celebrating. I have watered down every experience to its most basic form, constantly relying on the next achievement to keep me going.

There is a fine line between over-dwelling on past glories and moving on to the next thing, yet we often find ourselves at the extremes. On one hand, we might dwell on the past because we haven’t surpassed a specific milestone and it’s the only thing left to hang on to. On the other hand, we can become so carried away by the future that we forget our current high was a hard-won victory, or we neglect the little wins entirely by focusing only on what is yet to happen.

In reality, the truth lies somewhere in between. It is vital to take a step back every now and then to appreciate how far we have come, but not so much that we forget what still needs to be done.

In more succinct terms: may we not trivialize the little things, for those too have their place.

Chronicles of Yimnai