{Enter cliched Thanksgiving title here}

Can you believe December is TWO days away? I'm freaking out a bit.

Not because I have a huge Christmas list to shop for, but because 2013 seriously slipped away. Wasn't it just summer?? Can it be summer a few days after Christmas? That'd be fantastic. I'm cold and winter hasn't even really started.

Anyway, I worked a wonderful 12 hour shift today. Before you start throwing me a pity party, let me just say: I VOLUNTEERED because I like working holidays for three reasons:

1) I don't get to go home, since I live $500 away and -- obviously -- don't have money to travel right now.

2) I like having the satisfaction (or maybe illusion) that I helped others be able to celebrate Thanksgiving  or Christmas with their families instead of having to work.

3) Time and a half pay is a glorious, glorious thing.


Just a few things I'm thankful for:

I'm thankful for my job and the people I work with and for.

I'm thankful I have my health and for all that I have, since I know it could be much, much worse.

I'm thankful for the upbringing I had to give me the strength to endure and grow from the things I've had to go through.

I'm thankful I can lean on my mother, who is the strongest woman I know, when I am frustrated (which is more often than you think).

I'm thankful for the direction my life is taking me, since I can see success in the horizon.




This year, I want you to ask yourself do you have a grateful heart year round? Do your actions show your gratitude?

It's so easy to fall into the habit of consumerism and wanting what we don't have (I do it, we all do it, we're human). Having nice things is great, but as long as we go back to being thankful for what we have (materialistic and non-materialistic) and work towards bettering ourselves, that's what's important. 

I think gratitude is really accepting how things are now, and realizing that we don't need X Y or Z to be happy. Happiness isn't a destination, it's a state of mind. I think gratitude and happiness go hand in hand.


Happy Thanksgiving (or Thanksliving, as I heard someone call it today)