Give Thanks for All That Life Offers
Life can be complex. There are highs and lows, excitements and frustrations, joys and disappointments. It can be easier to find the positive aspects or impacts in the good stuff. But what about the stuff that’s not so good? MIght that be worthy of thanks and gratitude as well?
Think about where you are in life today…
How did you get to where you are in your career? Did you do it on your own? Did you fail at some things? Were you rejected in others? Where would you be if all had gone smoothly?
How did your various relationships form? Why have they endured or ended? Were you ever hurt by someone or have you disappointed someone else? How have you grown from your connections and disconnections with others?
How did your hobbies develop? Did you align with your strengths? Did you overestimate your skills and talents? Did you learn with or from others? Was there experimentation, trying some things and discarding others along the way?
The point is that some tough stuff is worth our gratitude. Not necessarily for going through the circumstance, but for the lessons learned or the final outcomes gained because of it. Every one of us has overcome some tough stuff that has contributed to our lives being richer and us becoming wiser and more compassionate. Heck, without the difficult merger of our former organization and the elimination of our jobs, we would never have created Core Endeavors!
Giving thanks or having gratitude for the tough stuff isn’t always easy. It can bring on thoughts of inadequacy or vulnerability, make us question our choices, or have us wonder, “why me?”. And when we can see the positive through the negative, when we can rise up from underneath, we are able to see things in a new way and regain the perspective, control and peace that we feel we have lost.
So, when you reflect on your life thus far, remember to also give thanks for the challenges and struggles that have likely helped you become the person you are today.
