Thankful

I think Thanksgiving may be my favorite holiday. Does that make me wrong for not saying Christmas? I’m thankful every day, but today is dedicated to giving thanks so here’s a little different perspective than maybe what you usually hear.

Yes, I am thankful for my family, my friends, where I live, and my health, among other things, but there are so many other things to be thankful for that I think most of us take for granted most days.

The United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world with opportunities abound. No, money doesn’t buy happiness (well, not the way most Americans use it), but it can buy security and opportunity and a better life. Most of us who live in America have an infinitely better life than the majority of the world. A lot of our day-to-day worries and complaints are “first world problems” that people elsewhere would find appalling to complain about.

Every day first thing in the morning on my way to work or the gym I try to think about all of the things that I have in my life that many others, if not the majority of people in the world, don’t have. I wake up safe on a nice mattress in an apartment with heat, crystal clear running water, and electricity. I get up and brush my teeth, get dressed and put on quality clothes and shoes, and grab my bag to carry my things with me for the day.

I grab something for breakfast and something to take with me to eat for lunch. I close my door and lock it, making sure that all of the other things that I have in my apartment are safe and secure. I get in a safe vehicle that I don’t have to worry about whether it will run or if it has enough gas to get me to where I need to go. Depending on the day, I either go to the gym or the office that both have clean running water, heat, electricity, and everything else that I need to accomplish my goals.

At work I have access to a nice office, my computer, everything that I need to do my job, and food. At the gym, I have different set of clothes to work out in, a smartphone to listen to music and track my workout, Wi-Fi, headphones, and a full gym to use.

Every single one of these things that I’ve mentioned is something that someone else in the world doesn’t have access to. And I haven’t even scratched the surface. We have so many things to be thankful for and so many things that we take for granted. We complain about things like our phone not working properly or our internet being slow when there are others in the world who don’t have a place to live, water to drink, or food to eat.

Sometimes, for me at least, it’s best to take a step back when I’m about to complain about something and think about how fortunate I am and all of the things that I’m thankful for.

On the day that we’re called to be thankful, I implore you to inquire a bit deeper than you usually do on a normal day and consider all of the things that you have that others don’t. I think it may make you a little more thankful and hopefully less quick to complain about things that don’t really have that much of a negative impact on your life as it may seem in the moment.