I was thinking today about how fortunate I have been in life. The many things I have to be truly grateful for, and the amount of time that I and inevitably many people I know tend to focus on the wrong things. This is what inspired me to make this thread. I'll start with just a few simple things.
My year has been rocky, I have dealt with setbacks at work, my wife having potentially serious health complications, rocky relationships with family and friends, and more. The fact is though that everything has turned out just about as well as I could hope for a down year.
I was laid off, and without even looking within the same week I had a job outside my field fall in my lap, allowing me to keep my head above water. It's a 10% pay cut, but the hours are good, the work is rewarding, and most importantly it pays the bills (with some budget adjustments). I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity literally handed to me at the time when I needed it the most. I didn't even have to skip a beat, less than a week time off.
My wife who has a horrible family history of cancer had a scare, I talked about it here some. To be honest I was scared to death, the end result of the whole ordeal was as good as I could have ever hoped for. Again, I could look at the expense, the bad times, the negative aspects, or I can say "Thank you!" in my case to God. The expense and turmoil is nothing to me, and my wife is everything. I was incredibly fortunate and again, I simply feel blessed.
Most of my recent problems have simply been working themselves out, with a little nudge from me, a little sacrifice, and a little luck. While I do want to illustrate that this isn't meant to be a faith thread specifically, I also want to give credit where I feel it's due and be true to myself. So, I feel like God has truly blessed me through these tough times. My wife has lost family, my daughter has known tragedy, my family has seen tough times, but we have so much to be thankful for and it is always a great surprise to me how things can simply work out.
On a less personal note, and specifically to the point of this thread and to a point I made in another thread. There is so much growth and tolerance in society to recognize. You could look at the hateful and mean spirited bigotry that is running rampant, or you can look the opposite direction for a moment and see that there are more loving, generous, thoughtful, compassionate, and accepting people in these times that we live in than there have ever been. We have come a long way as a species, and while we have so much to grow, a great many of us are extremely fortunate to be alive in this day and age. Racism, hate, bigotry, even classism are all hot topics and widely publicized, but the truth is that they are less a problem now than they have ever been, and in so many cases people are moving towards enlightenment and growing in the right direction. You won't see it on the news, but you will witness it in life, if you are paying attention.
I don't mean to belittle the problems people still face, or simplify the very real troubles that are happening both here and in other parts of the world. I only mean to take a moment to appreciate all the good things in life. Happiness is after all a matter of perspective, and if your perspective is through the lens of our ever more negative media and you see nothing but the atrocities of this world, how can you possibly find joy in life?
I'll be adding more later, including actual examples of the things I have talked about (in a general way). I hope some of you will join me in sharing things that make you happy, big or small. Let's have our own little segment of the world that focuses on the good parts of life.
If all that wasn't sugary enough for the lot of you, Luke and I have even squashed our beef. Life is good people! Life is good, people.
