I think I’m just going to stop saying how often I’m going to post because then I don’t stick to it. I had an unexpected influx of orders for Fiverr the past couple of days, so I literally spent my whole day filling those orders. There was no time for blogging. Not that I’m complaining a whole lot… I did ask God to help me trust Him that He would provide. And he did! Hopefully the orders keep coming in, and I can start making enough to cover all my bills for the month. The eyeglasses incident was an expensive one… I really need to start paying that back.

At any rate, I wanted to talk today about gratitude.

Being grateful, to me, is one of the best qualities a person can have, and I believe it’s essential in one’s journey to find happiness. Happiness is not having everything in your life go smoothly. Happiness is not having a bunch of expensive things or a lot of money and possessions. To me, it’s being grateful for what you have.

I think people in general overlook a lot of the good they have in life. This is especially true when things aren’t going too well. For someone with mental illness, it’s extra tough to feel grateful because every day is a struggle.

I usually go about my day feeling anxious and stressed for no other reason than that… well, a lot of times there’s no reason, actually. I just feel it. I get so distracted by my mental illness and any inconveniences that pop up in my day that I fail to see how lucky I really am. I have things that most people outside the U.S. don’t have. But I really got to thinking about this when I opened up the medicine cabinet.

Odd, I know. But hear me out.

I looked at all the pills crammed into the medicine cabinet. Granted, most of these are my dad’s, but there are plenty for the whole family for whatever is ailing us at the time. There are vitamin supplements like Iron, Calcium, Vitamin C… pain relievers, stomach soothers, digestive aids, etc. etc.

It just made me think about when I move out. When I have my own place, I won’t have all these pills at my convenience. I often take it for granted that we have pain relievers in the house. I started looking around at other things.

The fridge. We complain a lot about how it’s not big enough, how the light inside no longer works… but really, we’d be in a whole world of pain without the thing.

The toaster. Toasters are awesome. They make toast and stuff. Mostly toast.

Snack foods. A garage. A beautiful lake out back. CALCULATORS. Printer paper. House plants. Canisters for flour and sugar. And oh my goodness, the spice cabinet. I don’t know what I’d do without it. All the little trinkets around the house that add a touch of charm that would be painfully absent otherwise. A multitude of bowls, different sized plates and pans, tools for fixing things…

I could go on and on. Everything in this house is something to be grateful for. It sometimes doesn’t occur to me that I won’t have all of this when I move out. A lot of these things have been built up over the years, even something as simple as the collection of spices in the kitchen. They’re not expensive. They’re just generic brands, mostly, but we so absentmindedly use them that it doesn’t strike us just how lost we would be without them, how tasteless everything would seem.

I think a lot of people miss that. Not just the appreciation for spices, but also the flavor of their life. When you’re used to just having certain conveniences, things and people around you, you don’t realize just how much flavor they add to your life. Life would be tasteless and bland without them. We fail to appreciate the things we acquire. I think it’s why a lot of people who have very little are more grateful for what they have. They can keep account of every item they have because they have so few possessions. It makes them more aware of just how precious each item is.

It’s just weird to me when I think of how we who are more fortunate can open up a fridge stocked full of food and say “There’s nothing to eat!” And then we do the even weirder thing of checking it five minutes later to see if there’s anything new (you’ve done it… don’t deny it).

I just think that the world would be a much happier place if everyone gave thanks for what they have every single day. All you have to do is take a look around your house and see that you’re pretty darn lucky. So, I’m going to try to cut down on my complaining the next time we’re out of Pringles. I have a lot more than I realize.