My Facebook has been inundated lately with posts of thanks and gratefulness. I love getting to read what everyone is grateful for, and celebrate any chance people take to count their blessings.
I firmly believe that the key to happiness is appreciating what you have. So I jumped on the FB gratefulness bandwagon and started sharing what I’m thankful for. Some of my updates looked like this:
and this:
I stopped updating my blessings on FB after a few days and while I still love reading others statuses I won’t be updating mine any more. The reason isn’t that I ran out of things to be thankful for, but rather that I have a hard time separating all the things I’m thankful for.
I’m thankful for my life.
Truthfully, everything about it. My husband, my health, my job, my family, my friends, food, my car, financial stability, my apartment, Omaha, etc etc. It’s hard to separate all those from one another because they all are a stitch in the fabric in the quilt of my life.
I love my life. Sure there’s stress, and bumps in the road from time to time. I’d love to lose weight and get more sleep. Josh and I sometimes have disagreements and having my family halfway across the country can be hard. But the sum of my life is greater than the parts. When I take the good and the bad of my life and add them in some hypothetical equation I always end up with way more positives than negatives.
When I was dealing with anxiety last year I remember thinking that I just wanted to feel like I could enjoy all my blessings. Worrying every day about the possibility of a health issue made me think about all the things I didn’t want to lose. For the first time in my life I gained perspective on my life, and realized how truly fortunate I was. When in my mind there was the fear that it could all be taken away from me, I stopped wishing for something different or something more, and just wanted what I already had.
Now that that constant anxiety is gone from my life, that feeling of thankfulness has only grown. I’m getting to live and enjoy my life. And it’s a good life. So instead of parceling it out and being thankful for some parts while ignoring the rest, I’m taking a step back and appreciating everything. Life is a gift, and I feel blessed to be able to live it each and every day.
AMEN.
my poor child is so so so tired of me saying LIFE IS A GIFT THATS WHY IT’S CALLED THE PRESENT.
but that is 100% it for me, too.
YES to everything about this post!!! 🙂
conquering a battle be it a disease, anxiety, college, whatever it is…it’s certainly enough to make someone thankful for the life that gives us strength to fight!
What a beautiful post! I agree completely
Great post! I was struggling badly with anxiety this time last year and am SO thankful I am not dealing with it now!
Amen! I try to be thankful for all my blessings all throughout the year and not just around this time. Life could definitely be a lot worse!
Love this. And Agree. In the grand scheme of things I really have little to complain about, and for that I am thankful.
I love this post, Erin! I am glad you shared that you struggled with anxiety. I don’t think anyone can imagine how hard that can be until they go through it themselves. You are awesome!