“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.”

~Henry David Thoreau~

Thursday, November 26th, 2020.

Thanksgiving Day. Celebrated throughout the United States and abroad.

The year 2020 is a time of hardship, pandemics, civil unrest, political uncertainty.

November 26th, 2020, Thanksgiving Day.

More so than ever, especially this year, Thanksgiving Day is a time of remembrance; remembering the good things to help balance the terrible year we all have had.

Because no matter what’s going on in your life, there is always something to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving isn’t all about stuffing your face with turkey, and then being semi-comatose for a few hours after.

It’s not about slaving over the oven all day long only to finish off a hard-cooked meal within one hour.

It’s not even about the pilgrims who settled these lands so many years ago, and who ultimately took the land from it’s rightful heirs, the Native Americans.

Thanksgiving is all about spending time with family, friends, and loved ones. It’s a strong reminder that no matter what is going on in our lives, we need to stop and be thankful for what we do have. What we have accomplished. What we should be happy for.

I’m just as human as the rest of you are, and no, I am not the happy-go-lucky guy that I might depict myself as being. I have dreams, fears, happiness and unhappiness just like all of you do. I’m just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill Joe.

Just. Like. You.

But I take a moment to think about the things I am thankful for. I try to change the negative, cyclic thinking that all human beings are prone to doing, and change it to something positive. Why?

Because YOLO. You only live once, so might as well make the best of it, right?

So today will serve as a special reminder to myself. A reminder that I should be thankful for the little things in my life.

• I am thankful that I am alive. In my case, this holds true. I could have died as a newborn, but I didn’t. Someone, something out there gave me a new lease on life.
• I am thankful I am healthy. Such as it is. I am breathing. I am living life as best as I can. As well as I am able. What more could I ask for?
• I am thankful for my mother and father. My mother, in her infinite wisdom (as much as she may refute it), showed me what it’s like to be kind to others; to love with all of your heart; and by giving me a very normal childhood. My father, May He Rest in Peace, by giving me the inner strength to keep going, the toughness I needed to survive an unrelenting world. With courage and toughness. Without them, I wouldn’t be the man I am today.
• I am thankful for my sisters, who all accepted me as their aggravating and annoying little brother, not as a disabled individual who needed help. Because of that, I don’t often see someone with a disability; I only see a human being who needed help living a happy, normal life.
• I am thankful for my hearing loss, as hard as it was sometimes. I have broken ears, so what? I can’t imagine the kind of person I would be if I didn’t have this severe hearing loss, because I have a much greater acceptance of people, and ultimately, it gave me a purpose. A purpose, a willingness, to succeed.
• I am thankful for all the friends I made throughout the years. Without them, I would have been lost. As my journey continued, and people come and go, I learned more about myself as time went on by simple interactions with people in my life.
• I am thankful for all the mistakes I have made, some I no longer regret, and others I will probably regret for my whole life. Without those mistakes, I wouldn’t have the power to better myself. To not make those mistakes again. Live and learn, they say.
• Last but not least, I am thankful for all the “flaws” I have. Anxiety. Depression. Hearing loss. It’s a humane thing to do, counting all the things that we find wrong with ourselves; but it’s also important to remember that they are all but part of a sum of the whole. All this, and much more, is what defines us as a Human Being.
• I am thankful for being me. And not pretending to be anything else but me.

What are you thankful for?

---