Yesterday, here in the U. S., we celebrated Thanksgiving as a nation. Many of us celebrated it with family and friends, many with strangers who would probably become family and/or friends, and others celebrated it alone. No matter what race, cultural background or religious beliefs, in this country the action of giving thanks becomes a focal point for a day.  And it is not lost on anyone that many spent their late night hours camped out in shopping mall parking lots to make purchases on stuff they don’t need to replace the things they already have and gave thanks for yesterday, but I suppose they are grateful for the ability to mindlessly spend money like that.  But I digress.

For some of us, being thankful is part of our lifestyle, our daily routine, not something that we do once a year.  Constant and continued gratitude is a balm for the soul because it fills you with joy. You can’t be thankful and unhappy at the same time. You can, however, be thankful and unsatisfied, which simply means that you recognize that there is more to life out there that is within reach if you are willing to go beyond your personal boundaries and broaden your perspective.  Gratitude sustains and uplifts the spirit and helps you to see the vast possibilities and reasons to keep moving forward.

I’ll start off my list of things I’m thankful for with the fact that I am still alive. To some, this may sound cliche or commonplace, but I, like many others who are relatively healthy, took my life for granted to a degree, until I came very close to losing it in a rather non-dramatic way.  A few weeks ago I made my way to the emergency room because of a sharp pain in my lung and found out that I had a pulmonary embolism, otherwise referred to as a blood clot in my lung.  If left unchecked, I could have had a heart attack, a stroke, or I simply would not be here to write this entry.

I am thankful for having been born in this country, and in this era, and I’m also thankful for the many opportunities that I have as a woman that I would not have in other countries, much less in the past decades of this country.  I am a Black Hispanic woman with a college degree.  That is something that may seem common to many people nowadays, but less than one hundred and fifty years ago in the United States, that would have been unheard of.  For a lot of women in other countries today, it’s still unheard of.

I’m thankful for the men that I have loved who left me because they didn’t love me back. Once I got over the heartbreak I was able to clearly see that I would not be subject to an unhappy marriage or long-term relationship with that person.  I’m not judging them because, quite honestly, I can’t say that I truly knew any of them, and I certainly don’t know what married life would have been like with any of them.  But taking into consideration that they didn’t care to consider my feelings for them, much less the possibility of a future with me, I can conclude that I have been spared a future of relative unhappiness, and that is something to be thankful for.

I’m thankful for the friends and acquaintances that have come and gone in each season of my life.  Some friends help you to map the seasons in your life.  If you take the time to think of the person you were when you met that friend and the many ways you’ve changed when that relationship ended, you would be amazed at what you discover, like the things you learned and the life decisions you made and why.  These are the people that have, in their own way, helped to shape me into the person I’ve so far become and am still becoming, which is a process, and I know that my evolution is non-stop.

The fact that I am evolving is something else I’m grateful for.  Knowing that with each day, my life, my entire being is transforming, and I have to power through choice, discipline, and determination to set the direction for the changes that will benefit me and allow me to achieve the goals that will enhance my life and increase my happiness.

Having choices is also something to celebrate with gratitude.  I wake up every morning knowing that today does not have to be like yesterday, no matter where I find myself.  I don’t have to eat the same food, wear the same clothes, or walk the same path. I can learn something new every day.  I don’t have to limit myself, and that is something to be thankful for daily.