Yesterday, on the CREATE Program calls, we talked about expressing gratitude.
We separated the things we’re grateful for and the people we’re grateful for.
One woman laughed because of how hard it was to not go straight to the people in our lives. It felt counterintuitive. There’s usually a negative connotation in focusing on the stuff we have instead of the relationships we enjoy.
But my prompt was this:
What are the things—both tangible and intangible—you are so incredibly grateful to have in your life?
Awesome answers included:
• “My sobriety” • “How much time I have left on Earth” • “My past—for all its valuable lessons” • “Having a computer which connects me to so many people” • “My growth”
It was difficult to have this conversation without a big dumb smile on my face.
Here’s my answer to the question:
I’m grateful for the infinitely small probability of getting the life I have.
I didn’t choose my parents or my environment. Which means I didn’t choose to not be a Syrian refugee. I didn’t choose to not have a shitty mom. I popped out in a hospital in Virginia Beach in 1994 and they happened to hand me back to two capable, loving adults. Then those adults raised me in middle-class America.
That’s some good shit.
There are so many factors that could’ve drastically altered my life. A few strands of DNA. One of my best friends not attending my high school. A childhood injury.
But so far, everything has happened how it happened and I look how I look and live how I live.
I’m grateful for the brain I was born with. It has given me the skills to connect with others and create a lovely life for myself. It allows me to read and write every day. It keeps me from being mean to people.
Tomorrow, I’ll talk about the people I’m grateful for. Stay tuned.
(**If you would like to join wholesome conversations like this one, ask me about the CREATE Program!)
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