Thankful

I saw a tweet one day where someone was listing all of their big life moments happening this year. Following the list, all they put was “busy, busy, busy.” It made me sad to see. Now I know that all of us complain so I am not trying to call out this person and judge them. However, I do want to take this Tweet and reflect on when I do that, instead of being thankful for what I have going on in my life. I am choosing to be thankful today. I am choosing to look at my long list of activities as opportunities that I get to be a part of this year instead of complaining about my busy life. Now I know that not every season of life is good, but that gives us all the more reason to be thankful for the times that are good and do give us the opportunity to be busy with things we enjoy.

Complaining is easy, being thankful takes effort. Complaining is something that rolls off the tongue for most people. You are too busy, don’t get sleep, there isn’t enough time, you have more work than anyone around you, your life is a mess, you don’t have your relationship together, and the list goes on. Each moment of your day can be looked at positively or negatively depending on how you react to it. If you take those parts of your life and think to the positive side of it, you might surprise yourself at how much happier, relaxed and motivated you feel.

Senior year is packed full for me and often times I get pressured to want to complain. This can come from my mind telling me those things are worth complaining about, or it can even come from people around me who make comments such as, “Wow, you are crazy for doing all of that your senior year - good luck!” However, I have chosen to be excited about the opportunities and embrace the time I have. This year I am completing two capstones for my double major, have an internship on campus, am taking 15 credit hours, lead two organizations, am the worship leader for a religious group on campus, participate in the ONU Holiday Spectacular Show, get to plan a wedding, am looking for a job, and probably a few other things that I am missing. All of this while doing my best to enjoy my last year as a student and at Ohio Northern. Wow - as I write that all out it seems to be a lot. However, look back and see how exciting all of these events are for me. How lucky am I to be blessed with so many amazing opportunities at this point in my life? When I look at it that way, I don’t get stressed - I feel more peace and am ready to tackle those activities with joy.

Choosing to be thankful instead of complain is not easy to do, so I challenge you to start with one day. Challenge yourself to not complain about anything all day. See what the result is. You might just find yourself trying to do that everyday. So be thankful today, and everyday for all the blessings in your life.