“If we magnified blessings as much as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.” ~ John Wooden
Today I am thankful …
- For the vibrant yellow daffodils brightening up the gloomy rainy day
- Yams in the dining hall at dinner <3 obsessed
- Psych exam is over!!!
- My grandmom called me to tell me a funny story about her plumber
- For forgetting an umbrella in the torrential downpour – got to laugh hysterically and run through the rain and splash in the puddles 🙂
What are you grateful for today? What specifically made today beautiful and special?
It was the Friday night Easter weekend that I had an amazing realization – I have so much to be thankful for and it needs to be recognized. It was an eye-opening experience that has changed my perspective on every day as well as life in general so far this week…
Okay, so that sounded a lot more glorious and dazzling than how it really happened. In all reality, I hit a pretty low point. I was lying on my dorm bed, eating an entire sleeve of Ritz crackers (I gave up all sweets for lent until Sunday so this was the best I could get…), and staring at the blank screen of my laptop. It was the Friday night of Easter weekend. My whole entire family, including my brother who is never able to come home, was going to my Aunt’s house for Easter but I wasn’t able to go. My ride fell through, group projects piled up, papers continued to be unwritten, tests were quickly approaching and it just was not in the cards for me to be able to be with everyone on Easter.
Nothing seemed to go right. However, as I was laying there motionless, I began to think about the day that 
I had. There was no way that everything was horrible about the day. No way. The world is too amazing for that. The flowers were in bloom, the birds were singing, I had a good hair day – life is good. It really is. A smile spread across my face. In that one instant I began to realize that I have so much to be thankful for. I have too amazing of a life to let little things like exams and not participating in family Easter bring me down.
Often, what happens when we, as college students, are busy trying to function in college life is we over look the things that we are grateful for. I tend to get swept up in the struggle to balance the overwhelming workload with a social life and sleep that I rush around without taking note of the amazing things around me that I should be extremely thankful for. I think the quote by Guillaume Aollinaire sums it up perfectly…
“Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.” ~ Guillaume Apollinaire
College students are on the pursuit of happiness. We are striving to stay afloat on the road to a successful future, the dream job and life. While we may be able to see our dreams clearly, this is in turn blinding us from the beautiful aspects of life in the NOW.
“Gratitude doesn’t change the scenery. It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colors.” ~ Richelle E. Goodrich
Taking the time to be grateful for the amazing different aspects of life that surround me allows me to see the world clearly. My entire perspective is changed to have a more positive outlook. Loving the feeling that reflection on things I am grateful gave me, I decided to make it my new goal to write down three things I 
am grateful for each and every night. I am taking the time to sit down at the end of the day, reflect on that day in particular and what little aspects of the day made it special, and writing down exactly what I am thankful for that day in particular.
What I have noticed in the past week I have done this was I look at the world differently. Knowing I am going to be writing down my specific things that night, I take the time during the day as well to notice the sun peaking trough the shades in the library or the friendly hello from a friend in passing. I take the time to really appreciate a call from my mom as she constantly shows her love and support. I take the time to thank the person in front of me for holding the door open and thank my friends for always being there when I am having a rough day.
Curious if this daily reflection was actually changing my perspective on life, I looked up who else has also taken the pledge to express what they are grateful for every day. I came across the Gratitude Challenge. The Gratitude challenge consists of a 21 day challenge that is created to help participants take note of the brighter side of life. By providing blogs, inspiration, and prompts, Gratitude Challenge helps others to spend a few minute each day to count all of life’s blessing to change your entire commitment to living life in a sensational way.
One woman, Marianne, has taken a similar challenge and expressed how it has taught her that it is easy to be grateful when everything is going well. Anyone can do that. It is when your life is burdened with drama, struggles, and hard times that it can be a little bit more challenging but it is during those moments that change occurs. During those hard times is when you need to remember to highly value the life and lives all around.
See if you can try the challenge. Every day for 21 days sit down in your bed at night and write down three things you are thankful for that day 🙂 Will it change your entire perspective on life?
I know that I tend to go haywire when I’m lost in the fast pace of school and don’t set aside some time for personal reflection. With how regimented and demanding our schedules are in college, more often than not we forget to stop and appreciate the environment around us. The resources and opportunities we have to taken advantage of are plentiful- ones that most people will never get to experience. I feel like I definitely take my life for grated when I zone into my schoolwork- because doing assignments and studying for exams is mental and physical toil, we expect other aspects of life to come easy to us. Even though it’s important to focus on academics and extracurriculars, it’s also important to spend a couple minutes each day reflecting on what it is you have to be grateful for.
I most definitely will be keeping a gratitude journal. I’ve thought about doing it for a while now, but have just never sat down and done it. I too have also sometimes gotten caught up in the stress of college that I’ve completely forgotten about all that is good in my life, if only for a moment. As soon as I realize everything that I have going for me in life, my complaints suddenly sound extremely ridiculous and more like whining. Jotting down 3 things I’m grateful for everyday certainly will cause me to become more positive overall.