Thanks.

I grew up on being thankful. In whatever way it was, we gave thanks. We gave thanks to God for our dinners, for our healthy families, for staying safe. I learned "please" and "thank you" at a very young age, as most children should. As we get older, we lose the habits our parents raised us on. Sometimes we start to slip away from saying thanks, and we take things for granted. But what does it really mean to give thanks? Sure, I say thank you all the time. I say thank you to patients that come in for x rays, I say thank you to my coworkers who help me, I say thanks to total strangers for holding the door open for me. But really, what does it mean to say thanks? What does it mean to be grateful?

In my last post I talked about being a lovely girl. I think that this goes hand in hand with that. Being a beautiful person means you appreciate everything, whether it be big or small. You appreciate the smiles you're thrown, the frowns. You appreciate falling in love, and you appreciate the heartache that can come with it, because you learned from it. You learn what went wrong, and you fix it, so it never happens again. And one thing that you do, is you do not ever take anything for granted. Never. So many times have I learned the hard way that you don't realize what a good thing you have is until its gone, or not so easily accessible. This applies to so many things; church, family, friends, true loves. I don't want to live my life full of regret, because I didn't fully appreciate the family and friends I had around me that showed me love and support through my absolute worse time. And for that, I give them thanks. Thanks for sticking by my side, and for not giving up on me, ever.

Being thankful for life in itself can make you so much happier as well. It literally changes your entire outlook on life, (and kind of makes you feel like you're in a Disney movie because you're THAT happy, lets be real.) I have had so many wise thoughts lately about happiness and being grateful and giving thanks and of course as I go to write them down, I forget them all. I guess one of the main things I really want to stress is that changing your outlook can change your life. It really can, and for that I give thanks. I give thanks that I was able to save myself before it was too late. I give thanks that I'm so much happier within the last few days, than I've been in the last few months. You know why that happened, and so fast? Because I put my pedicured foot down. I said no to the negativity and I said no to being an unappreciative little brat. I have an amazing life. Not to brag or anything, but I really do, and if you think your life is hard, you should spend a day in the OR watching over patients on the table, or spend a day up on the Cardiology floor watching people fight for their hearts, and their lives. I can fully say that I have a greater appreciation and a greater love for people, for their heartaches and for their sorrows. I don't pity them, put I sympathize with them. I give thanks for these people, who are changing my life and not even knowing it.

I am so incredibly grateful for life, and for the lessons that I've learned. Everything can be a learning lesson. I learned that years ago (and my parents never let me forget it!) Being a grateful person doesn't make you weak. It doesn't make you a pansy. It makes you incredible. I have so much endless respect for people who are truly grateful for life. Its the stories you hear about where the people have nothing, but are grateful for more than everything. Those are the life changing, heart warming stories that I love. And I want to be one of those people, that truly loves everything and is so grateful for what she has that it makes other people thankful too.

Thanks for reading!
xoxo.