Being Grateful

Hello again Internet People!  Happy Saturday!  (Or Happy whatever day it is whenever you happen to be reading this).  I mentioned in passing yesterday the concept of Gratitude and its role in my "recovery", and I promised to get back to that concept at a later time.  Well, I reackon it is later now, so let's get to it, shall we?

I don't know if Gratitude is really the correct word, but its close enough.  The whole idea is being "Grateful" for what you do have in your life, instead of worrying about what you don't have.  No matter how bad life is at the moment there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for.  You are still breathing, be grateful, a lot of people don't even get to that any more.  No matter how bad your life may seem, there are MILLIONS of people on this planet who are FAR worse off than you can even imagine being, so fucking be grateful!

Maybe Appreciation is a better word.  Learning to appreciate the positive things in your life and not focus on the negatives is probably the shortest path to happiness.  I know for a fact that no matter how bad my life may seem at any given moment, it could always be way worse, and there are probably more people than I could count who are doing far worse on any given day than I ever could be.  I am damn lucky to have been born, even luckier to have been born in a first world nation to a family that didn't beat the shit out of me every day.  I appreciate that fact, very fucking much.

Our modern society thrives on making everyone feel like they are less than someone else because they don't have what the other person has.  Its Marketing 101.  That works great for the businesses trying to sell you shit you really don't need, but it seriously fucks with your psyche if you don't actively fight against those influences.  They are pervasive and destructive and it is so easy to get sucked in without even realizing what has happened.  Everyday we are bombarded with images and reminders that "You are not good enough, unless you buy ___________ you can never be happy."  We all know that they are lying, but we get sucked in anyway, because there is the smallest chance that maybe they are right.  They are NOT right, by the way, they are just lying.

Imagine the 4 people you love most in the world.  Now imagine that you will never see two of them again.  Do you focus your mental energies on missing the two you will never see?  Or do you focus on loving the two who remain?  If you choose the first option, I promise you will be unhappy.  I can't promise the second option will lead directly to happiness, but it is at least a possibility, happiness is not possible with the first option.  Instead of fixating on the fact that they are gone, try just being Grateful that they were ever there.

There is only one person on this planet that you cannot live without, and that is YOU!  You can survive without your parents, without your spouse, without your friends, even without your own children, but you cannot survive without yourself.  There are days when I feel like I have lost more in my lifetime than most people ever even get to have, and those are the times when it most necessary to remember how fucking lucky I was to have had the life I have led.  I could wallow in self-pity and whine about how bad life is, but I tried that for years and it didn't make anything better.  It just made everything worse.

I hope you all realize that I share my thoughts and experiences on these things because I hope they may be able to help someone who is struggling as I did.  I sure don't claim to have all the answers, and perhaps taking advice from a self-proclaimed crazy person isn't the wisest course of action for most people, but I share what I know in hopes that some one out there might benefit from my long history of fucked-upedness.  Its got to be good for something!

So, if you find yourself in a dark place in your own head, try turning on the lights and focusing them on all that you have to be grateful for today.  Like, ... finding ME!  There's something to start your list!  You all are certainly on my list.  I am very Grateful for every damn one of you who take the time out of your busy lives to come read the rambling nonsense of this old crazy lady.  I Appreciate You!  And, I Thank YOU!

Until next time ...