Recently, on the way to run a 5K, a wonderful- incredibly-in-shape-friend of mine broke her ankle. No, she didn’t fall down the stairs or twist it or trip over something, she stepped the wrong way and needless to say, we were NOT participants in the monthly Sunset and Suds 5K run (yes, you read correctly, on the way to the 5K, talk about rough luck right?). 


Aside from the normal things one thinks about when sitting in the emergency room for 5 hours…. I started to think about my lack of serious disasters recently. It’s been over a solid YEAR that anything objectively BAD has happened to ME. Of course, things haven’t always been perfect but overall things have been just roses. And you know what? I haven’t been remotely thankful enough.

I feel like my life has always gone like this: cycles of bad things- and I mean BAD things- followed by cycles of amazingness... and what if… what IF…bad things seemed a little less bad because we nourished the good things a little more? Something in my life is bound to happen to take me out of commission somehow… whether it’s being sick, hurt, late for a meeting, etc.; there is ALWAYS something that comes up in life that’s an inconvenience... and I started wondering… what if during the awesome times… the brilliant times… the i-am-so-blessed- times… I had cultivated so much effing gratitude that once the shit times came along…I naturally diverted to being thankful for something (even if it was ultra hard)? What if I was 99% of the time already prepared to look on the bright side?

Small example from my life: 2 weeks ago I moved from a really AWFUL living situation to a really GREAT living situation but when I moved into this new place, things weren’t perfect. I was having a crazy day and my old housing situation was stressful (i.e. possibly not getting back my deposit) and my new place wasn’t how I wanted it and I was feeling overwhelmed about a few things… but you know what? Even though I was feeling all of this superficial craziness, deep down, I was so, so, so, deeply happy. I had been dying to live in this apartment for months and finally getting there was like a freaking dream come true; I had so much gratitude for this apartment that quite frankly nothing was going to ruin it for me.

We are all going to have annoying/awful bumps in the road. Maybe the key is becoming so grateful- so excited for the great bumps (finally moving into your dream apartment in the NYC) that we create a snowball of happiness that is virtually impossible to squash?

What in your life are you taking for granted, right now, today? I’ve made gratitude lists every day since my friend’s accident and you can bet your ASS my ankle ligaments are something I’m smiling about. What are you immensely, dreamily thankful for today?