Thank You!

My friend started a blog recently and, in some very rare free time from job searching, I decided to finally take a look at it. He started it a couple weeks ago with his three year old daughter to teach her the virtues of acknowledging gratefulness for everything in life. Once a day, they post something that Sophie is thankful for: one day the posting read, "Thank you for Simba!" another day the posting read, "Thank you for Care Bears!" All simple things to us grown ups, but things that seem very special to a three year old.

For the past month or so I haven't felt very thankful for much of anything. I have my moments of gratefulness for a kindness here or there, but in general I have been very stressed by my futile job hunting, unexpected car payments, otherworldly lack of success getting my post-collegiate life started, and general anxiety about my future.

Now, this is starting to sound a lot like a list of grievances, which is not at all how I intended it. I think that it is very important to always keep in mind the people and things that you are thankful for. The world is so busy in this day and age that we only set aside one day out of the year to show our thanks, which is why Ken and Sophie's blog warmed my heart so much. Her innocent "Thank you for a sleepover with Alyssa!" inspired me to search my heart for things that I am thankful for. In a time of such stress I think that it's really important for me to keep in mind all the things in my life that I really should be happy about.

I challenge everyone to spend a couple seconds each day brainstorming something that they are thankful for. Let's try to make our lives a little more cheery!

So, from now on I am going to create a daily post for things in my life that I am thankful for. I pray that some of them will be as innocent as Sophie's!

I am thankful for sudden realizations that there is always something to be happy about, no matter how dark life seems.