Michael Barrish: Story. I’ve long believed that we each have a story, often unknown to us, that we try all our lives to prove true. … It can usually be summarized in five words or less.
Every day, I try to clarify in my own mind some specific thing I am grateful for. This generally takes the form of today is better than yesterday in some way
. Yesterday my fiancee was sick, and today she is well; this week I am receiving training that advances my career; I have lost 3 pounds this month. Things like that. This is the way — and correct me if I’m wrong here — that most of us view gratitude: incrementally, relative to the day or week or month before. This is also why people who seemingly have so much can feel so ungrateful, since relative to yesterday, they may in fact be worse off.
But every now and then I — intentionally or accidentally — step back and feel gratitude on an absolute scale. I have a job that I love. I have friends who care about me, and whom I care about. I have a fiancee whom I love, and who loves me. We will be married next May, and we have enough money that we can afford to have both the wedding and honeymoon we want. I have parents with whom I am on such good terms that they will be retiring early and moving near me so they can be a more integrated part of the next phase of my life. I have been sober for almost three years.
I am blessed.
