Written by Vanessa Mutesi
Thanksgiving is just around the corner. For some people, Thanksgiving is about the food and enjoying the spirit of togetherness. Being in the US, there are many holidays that fly over my head because there’s no relevance of them in my life. Recently, I found myself thinking about Thanksgiving and what I am thankful for, and more-so reflect on the good things that are happening or have happened in my life over the past few months.
In the past, I have not been so kind to myself. I used to always find ways to nitpick what I was doing wrong or criticize myself harshly. Basically, I was not one to take time to celebrate the small things nor celebrate any victories in general. I am the type of person that will find the little things that could have been better, and I forget to celebrate the wins. As a person who pushes to be positive, this has to be one of my biggest challenges, because I want to find the good in what I do and the impact it has.
Over the past few weeks, I had hit a rough patch. I was feeling dissatisfied with my life, I wasn’t taking the time to appreciate the things I was doing right. Having this mindset led me to feel subpar. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough, I felt as though I was being purposeless, and in turn I lost all sight of all the things that were going well in my life. For people on the outside, it is easy to see when someone is doing well because everything they do in their everyday life seems to work well. For many around me it looked as though I had myself together, and I knew what I was doing and why I was doing whatever I was doing. However, on the inside it was a mess. I had lost sight of thankfulness for what was going well in my life.
Thankfulness is IMPORTANT. Being thankful for whatever comes our way allows us to celebrate the big wins and small victories. Thankfulness allows us to also reflect on what in our lives may be stopping this spirit of thankfulness. Being thankful is an act of love to yourself, because if you are not grateful for yourself and all you are, no one can bestow that on you. In the words of Alyssa Knight, “Count your rainbows, not your thunderstorms.”
