This I Believe - 2011

Saturday, January 1, 2011
I believe in gratitude.

When I was a youngster, I had an upper middle-class, privileged view of the world. I felt I was entitled to the things and advantages my parents worked so hard to provide to me. I was profoundly ungrateful for my privilege, and in many ways I squandered it.

Once I left the protection of my parents' home and was exposed to life outside the United States, I slowly came to realize how very lucky I was. Unlike so many, I had always had enough to eat. If I was sick, I went to a fully trained and certified medical professional. I had a family who cared for and supported me. I never had to sell my body to strangers to feed my family. I was given the opportunity to be educated. I had indoor plumbing.

My life has experienced many ups and downs since I achieved adulthood. And in good times and bad, it's easy for me to lose sight of how very much I have to be grateful for. I get wrapped up in my first world problems, and lose perspective.

Over the last month, I have joined my friend Jeri in a small end of year experiment whereby we each found and posted something we were grateful for on a daily basis. This endeavor has forced me to examine the daily events of my life and put them in the context of gratitude.
  • The garage door opener required replacement - but we have the money in the bank to pay for it without having to worry about not paying the utility bill or skimping on groceries.
  • I suffered from one of my periodic outbreaks of shingles last month - but it's only a few days of discomfort, rather than chemotherapy, or radiation, or surgery.
  • The twins' hooptie-car requires a repair that cost more than the vehicle is worth - but we have the resources to provide safe transportation rather than being forced to let them drive an unreliable car.
Looking at my life and daily struggles through the prism of gratitude has allowed me to reestablish a level of proportion in my life. My minor irritations are nothing compared to what the majority of the human population deals with every single day. Looking for something to be grateful for on a daily basis, even on the worst of days, reminds me that no matter how bad things might get within a specific situation, I have a wonderful, blessed life, with incredible resources at my disposal.

Gratitude has given me the gift of calm, of serenity, of seeing my life through eyes that view more than just my immediate surroundings. Gratitude allows me to remain happy and content in the face of life's challenges. Reminding myself of what I have to be grateful for, instead of concentrating on the negative, makes me love my life anew, every day.

1 comments:

Jeri said...

I'm not quite sure how I feel about my experiment in writing about gratitude. Toward the end, I really hit empty trying to find new things to see in my life, that I hadn't already posted about. I missed 2-3 days. :/ Still, I'm glad I did it. And themed writing made it easy to write more frequently.