Being Grateful for Your YAY-EST Life
Being thankful is literally the number one tool for a happier life. Do we understand what it means to be grateful?
In this episode, I'll breakdown how everlasting gratitude is everything and will supercharge your mood as you go through life.
I love Thanksgiving because it instantly gives me an excuse to genuinely enjoy a guilt free pumpkin pie binge; then pass out in a food coma for 12 hours. It’s okay, it’s Thanksgiving! But also I love Thanksgiving because it gives me time to reflect on what I am grateful for in my life. The best thing about gratitude is that in order to be grateful you must first notice that for which you are grateful.
So I play a little game with myself. Sometimes I pretend that I’m a time traveler from the 1400s who has just returned from the year 2020. When I return to circa 1400, I have to explain to my friends what I saw in 2020!
“Hey, what did you see in 2020?"
“Yeah, so in 2020 most people have these funny looking tin cans that they step into. They have a key they put into it, then they put their foot on this lever and the tin can starts moving. It can go as fast as 100 mph.”
"What's making it move forward?”
"I don't know, they are not hooked up to horses.”
"Does it work in hot summer or winter?"
"Not only does it work, if it is too hot or cold in the tin can there is another button that changes the temperature.”
Have any of you actually thought about how crazy that is? We live in a world where we can go anywhere zip zip zip, in temperature controlled vehicle, with surround stereo.
All these simple things we take for granted. RUNNING WATER. WHAT? Have you actually thought about running water? We just walk over to a faucet and get water. Oh my. People used to have to and some people still do, walk to a well, fill up their buckets, carry the bucket back, use a ladle. And you know what is really scary? Sometimes raccoons get into the well and drown in it. And you never know if you are drinking dead raccoon water.
OMG RUNNING WATER. We could be in a quarantine with NO RUNNING WATER How would we shower? I mean some of us don't shower anyway even if we have running water but it’s nice to have a choice.
I also thought about this. In the 1950s what would a gay couple think if they traveled to 2020?
”How was your trip honey?”
“AMAZING, in 2020 we could be recognized as a gay couple. There is a town called WE HO and not only do the men and women walk around holding hands, there are molds of rubber penises everywhere. There are penises everywhere Bob! PENISES EVERYWHERE.”
I think we totally take for granted this freedom. Thanks to our brothers and sisters who fought so hard for us. We can now exist in a world where it is no longer FASHIONABLE to be straight up hateful towards homosexuals. Not to say that we don't have a long way to go for more equality. But I think we need to take a look at how far we've come and be grateful for our growth as a society. In the end, we need to continue to encourage each other to continue on the journey!
Isn’t it unfathomable to think, that being gay in the 1950s was basically illegal? People could be fired for being gay in the 1970s and ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ was a controversial "pro-gay measure" in the 1990s. Most of the country was against gay marriage in the early 2000s. Here we are now, we have the support of most of the country and we can now fight openly for trans rights with a good deal of support. Something that was never possible just 12 short years ago. I don’t know about you but thinking about our progress really inspires me to continue fighting forward.
This also relates to who we are as individuals. Sometimes I get down on myself and it's easy to say things like, "I have not accomplished a damn thing in the past year. I am not growing enough.” I would say 99 percent of the time the negative assessment is SO UNFAIR. I think about myself one year ago. I was still working on the first draft of my book. Now, the book is finished, published and it is a bestseller. It’s also getting great reviews! Today, I am more emotionally aware, grounded, independent and less reactive.
I could sit here and easily say to myself, “I have such a long way to go.” And hold myself in dissatisfaction about where I am which may discourage me and make me feel like a failure. I could provide negative evidence to myself:
"You wrote a book but it doesn't count.”
"You gained four pounds during the pandemic.”
"You don't really have a career.”
"You still don't have a boyfriend.”
"You are just sad and lonely.”
Until we fix these problems, we are still not good enough...
When do we EVER GET TO BE GOOD ENOUGH?
So I think Thanksgiving is a great reminder to TAKE STOCK of the amazing forward movement and progress we are making in:
- technology
- social movements
- personal growth
- basically any category in life
It’s great we want more progress when it comes to, social movements, personal growth and technology but let’s not take for granted the INCREDIBLE JOB all of us have done in getting this far.
Are we perfect? No. I would sure as hell rather be living in 2020 than in the 1400’s or 1980s or the year 2000. I would rather be me today than a year ago or three years ago or five years ago. So let’s celebrate because we have reason to believe we can accomplish many more exciting things in the time to come.
