Reality Check

I don’t always like being a grownup. I’ve been downright cranky about it lately. I’ve been facing a lot of little unpleasant realities. For example, I’ve recently learned that if I want to save money by cooking at home, I have to do the dishes more than once a day. Yuck. If I want to feel healthier physically, I need to lose weight. If I want to lose weight, I need to pay attention to everything I eat and drink. Double yuck. If I want my business to thrive, I need to get organized. If I want to get organized, I need to get rid of the clutter I’ve been accumulating for years. Sigh. Being a grownup can be quite tedious.

Finally, I remembered what the solution is to this crankiness. It’s gratitude. It works every time.

I used to be very suspicious of people who recommended gratitude as the solution to anything. I thought it was a way to ignore problems, rather than deal with them. I thought it was a form of denial. I was wrong.

In recent years, I’ve learned that gratitude actually makes me happy. It’s a necessary counterweight to my normal depression. It allows me to recognize the good things in my life that I usually don’t see. For me, it’s not a smokescreen, it’s a reality check.

I’ve learned from others to make gratitude lists. These are lists of things in my life for which I am grateful. I usually start with the basics. I’m grateful for plentiful clean water. There are a lot of places in the world that don’t have that. I have plenty of good food - another luxury that not everyone enjoys. I have a beautiful place to live in a beautiful state. I have plenty of clothes. I have good friends and family I love.

It goes on from there. When I finish a gratitude list of twenty items, I am reminded once again that I’m very lucky. I have everything I need. In fact, I have way more than I need. I’m rich. It’s good to know that.