Writing down things you have to be thankful for is a great exercise in perspective. Seeing how many positive there is in your life can do your mind good, and since we’re coming up on Thanksgiving, I thought I’d do just that. It turns out I have a lot to be thankful for.

• That I get to fall asleep next to the most beautiful, kind woman in the world every night and wake up to her beautiful face the next morning.
• That I have a home.
• That I have a job that allows me to pay for said home.
• That I have a job period. I got laid off two years ago and was unemployed for three months. That was probably the worst three months of my life, and I’d never wish that on anyone.
• That I have a job doing what I love. It may suck sometimes, I may not like everyone I work with, but I’ve never woken up and thought ‘Shit, I don’t wanna go to work today.’ I love what I do and I’m thankful I have the opportunity to do it.
• That I have a family. A lot of people can’t say that. I have a mother and father who, for all their faults, are the two greatest people in the world to me. All my grandparents, even though two of them were just in the hospital for two weeks, everything’s fine (mostly) now. That’s all you can ask for.
• That I’m healthy. I don’t have any life-threatening diseases. I’m not in any sort of extreme pain. I can breathe. My heart works. I’m fit, and not a lot of people can say that.
• That I’m alive. Being alive is pretty awesome, I must say. I do rather enjoy taking in external stimuli and turning them into experiences.
• That I have the opportunity to pursue my passions. I love to create things. I love playing guitar and creating music. I love reading. I love writing on this blog. I love writing stories. I love playing video games, crocheting, and doing anything involving my hands. Some people don’t have the opportunity to do the things they love. Nor do they have to opportunity to find out that they have passions like that.
• That I live in the time that I do. Statistically speaking, we live in the most peaceful time period on the planet. Which is pretty cool. I know we’ve got some sketchy shit going on right now around the world, but we’ll get through it. We always do.
  • I’m thankful that we have the advances in medicine we do. So many diseases that used to be a major blight on society are completely gone (or getting there). There were only, what?, 3 cases of polio last year? In the world? That’s awesome. A disease that not 70 years ago was causing people to be handicapped for their entire life is almost completely gone from the world. There hasn’t been a recorded case of smallpox since 1978. If you’re reading this, you were born during a great time to be alive. Remember that.
• That I can read and write. Going back to the whole ‘great time to be alive’ statement above, do you realize that even 100 years ago, many people around the world could hardly read or write? The rise of the middle class in the 1900s gave us the rise in education that we see today. I feel very fortunate to be as educated as I am. Even if I can’t do math, I’m still smart, damnit.
• That I can grow a beard. I don’t think I’d be the same person if not for my face warmer. I’m thankful for you, beard.
• That I can eat pretty much whatever I want, whenever I want. Lots of people don’t have food. I mean, LOTS. Even here in the U.S. So I’m really glad that I can just go down the street and buy whatever I’m in the mood for.

There’s so much more, I know, but this really made me feel good about life. I’ll probably be adding to it on and off, or just coming back to it when I need a pick-me-up.  I highly suggest this exercise for anyone and everyone. Give it a shot! Let me know what you’re thankful for in the comments.