Being Thankful
Can you believe that it’s November 26th, hours away from sharing and celebrating one of America’s favorite family holidays, Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday, filled with wonderful traditions: turkey, pumpkin pie, lighting a fire, and of course football. But the best tradition is spending quality time with family, friends and loved ones; reflecting on all that we have to be grateful for. Over the last several months I’ve come to realize that being thankful for things should not be limited to just one Thursday out of the year. It is something we need to focus on every single day because at the very least it will make us happier and better people.
I wanted to share a short story that occurred over lunch with one of my childhood friends a few weeks ago. We were catching up talking about life; where our careers have taken us, what each of our kids (one by one ) has been doing with their lives and what type of pets we now own. Lots of laughs and complaints, but we realized so much has changed since high school graduation and the different roads that we have both gone down.
After several hours of talking about life’s challenges and opportunities and just good fun catching up. As we talked my oldest childhood friend stopped me in mid-sentence “are you comparing yourself to where others are in their lives? You are complaining about things I don’t consider complaints; work is hard, kids are good, etc.” Being the history buff that she is, she kindly said, “let me tell you something Teddy Roosevelt once said, ‘Comparison is the thief of joy,’ Don’t focus on what you don’t have and what your friends do have. Spend your time focusing on where you are, what you do well, and who you are in this very moment. Be thankful for that.”
It was a perfect thing for me to hear, a reminder that things could always be worse. After hearing that I realized I needed to share it so others could be inspired by the same thoughts. I always thought I was thankful and grateful for everything I have and have accomplished as a mom, sister, wife and businesses woman, but this allowed me to think and focus on the things I can bring to the world to create the most positive impact and bring value to others.
I decided to write what I am thankful for today and every day.
· Family
· Friends
· Business
· Health
· Food
· Clothes
· Music
· Movies
· Books
And most importantly myself and the gift of what I can give to others. I remembered to be thankful and grateful for my short list because I realized there are millions of people who would love to do what I do every day and I am appreciative that I am able to do what I do. This is just a reminder to take one day at a time and remember to say “thanks,” show gratitude and be mindful to those we work with; our co-workers, our managers, our family and our friends.
So today and every day I thank you for keeping the lights on, for satisfying our customers and for the ability to celebrate our 68th year in business. And most importantly I thank you for being yourselves and bringing to the company something that only you can bring.
