With the holidays approaching, specifically Thanksgiving, many of my childhood memories from home are flooding back. Obviously, Christmas brings everyone a different type of nostalgia, but for me and my family, Thanksgiving brings us this feeling.
Beyond the actual feast of Thanksgiving, my memory is filled with gratitude lists, laughter until crying with my family at the table, playing card games with my grandparents, and the endless reminiscing of past seasons.
Starting when I was just 10 years old, my mom would come into my room every night on the first of November and make me start a list of what I was grateful for that year. My brother, her, my dad, and I would all add one thing to this list each night of November leading up to Thanksgiving.
At first, my list consisted of surface-level ideas; I would write how grateful I was for my family and friends. As I got older, I developed my gratitude list into something more meaningful, not that family and friends aren’t too.
I was starting to recognize how grateful I was for how thoughtful my dad was and how well he listened and paid attention to detail. I would write how grateful I was for my mom’s passionate voice and her ability to stand up to anyone. I’d write how grateful I was for my brother and his fearless personality.
Creating these gratitude lists opened up my eyes and made me realize gratitude is more than just a singular person, place, or thing. It is much deeper than that.
As our lives get more complicated, loud, messy, and overwhelming, gratitude is one of the few things that can ground you. I know writing down what you’re grateful for seems a little cliché, but it is truly the simplest way to feel present, confident, and more connected to your own life. I am forever grateful my mom made me do this from the beginning.
Obviously, college is four years full of moments that pull you in a million different directions. These moments make it easy to get caught up in the comparison game: who got the better grade, who has the better relationship, who got the best internship. I believe writing down what you are grateful for interrupts this spiral.
Even just writing down three small things each day. It could be as simple as a professor explaining a topic more clearly, your roommate taking out your trash just because, or one of the many students on campus who hold the door for you. Writing these down or even just expressing that you’re grateful for these things in some type of way shifts your focus from what you don’t have to what you already do.
So, thank you, Mom, for making me write something I am grateful for each night in November. It is now something I can write about being grateful for on my new gratitude list.