Susan L. Farrell, Author

Thoughts on Thankfulness

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As I get older, I find that I am thankful for different things than when I was younger.  In the past I was mostly thankful for the successes that I had achieved—graduating college, getting a good position with a good company, moving up the career ladder, making the money needed to live the life I wanted, that sort of thing.

Now that I’m older (and, I hope, wiser) I find that I am more thankful for things that I used to take for granted.

I am more thankful for the people in my life, for family and friends.  Part of this change is due to having lost people.  My father passed away eleven years ago and my mother passed away this year.  All my aunts and uncles, except for two, have passed as well.  These are people that I am thankful I had in my life, but I wish I would have appreciated them more while they were here. I also wish I had spent more time with them, talked with them more, learned more about them and their experiences.

I’m more thankful for my health, now that it has started to decline a little related to aging, than I was when I was younger.  Perhaps it’s a little of “you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”

I’m thankful for how hard my husband and I have worked so that now we can enjoy retirement.  (I still can’t consider myself completely retired, but I’m getting closer.)  Although, I could have stressed less and enjoyed life more while we were working hard.

I am at a point in my life where I can be thankful for the journey itself and not just the journey’s end.

I am sharing these thoughts in the hope that you will look at what you are thankful for, and perhaps look at it a little differently.  What is most important in your life?  Are you truly thankful for it?  Or do you take it for granted?  Be thankful that you have it now, because some day you might not.

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