We often get so caught up in our busy lives that we forget to be grateful. Grateful for the fact that we are alive, that we have friends and family that love us and that we have been given an opportunity to control our own lives. If you really think about it, we have a lot to be thankful for. Although sometimes life hits you with difficult events, the power of positive thinking could be the key that helps you overcome troublesome circumstances.

Personally, I know I am a lucky individual because I know that there are many people out there that don’t have a life as easy as mine. Whether they are battling internal demons, struggling to survive or living through tragedies; this realization puts your life into perspective. It makes you realize how small your problems really are compared to other peoples and that is why I am forever grateful for the life I have.

I often reflect about life and even in my darkest moments, I try to show gratitude because I have a lot to be grateful for. It honestly doesn’t matter how down I may be or how devastating a failure might be, I am a lucky person and I should be grateful for that. That is why I have made gratitude journaling apart of my life. Personally, some of my biggest battles are internal and from experimentation, I have noticed that gratitude journaling helps me get through challenging situations, sadness or negative self-talk. So that is why I take a moment every single day to record in my daily planner, three things that I am grateful for. This repetitive act forces me in the darkest of times to remember the positives in my life and that not everything is horrible. Whether I record that I am grateful for my family, health, ambition, education or country; the act of writing down what I am thankful for helps me be positive.

When I was in grade nine I had a serious hockey concussion that changed a lot for me. I never talk about it to anyone because that is just a battle I deal with internally. But even though I am still affected by this incident over 8 years later, I need to be grateful. Although recovering from the worst of this situation was one the most difficult experiences I had to face in my life, I survived. In the grand scheme of things, yes it sucks that I am still affected by an event that happened years ago but things could have certainly been a lot worse. A lot of people don’t get second chances, especially when it comes to serious injuries and brain trauma. So I am so blessed to have been given an opportunity to continue living my own life and that this situation was not worse. Thus, that is why I am so grateful to be alive and that I have supportive friends and family who are always by my side supporting me through the most challenging situations.

So if you were to ask me,”what is one thing that gets you out of bed in the morning”, I would say that it is my gratitude for getting a second chance. This realization is one of the reasons I am so ambitious and passionate about becoming the best version of myself, I was given a chance that many people don’t receive.

So now that I have told you a personal story about one thing I am grateful for in my life, my question to is what are grateful for?