I am thankful for the people in my life who haven’t given up on me and have stuck with me in times of difficulty. I am thankful for the love they share with me even when I don’t feel like giving it back. Often I forget how easy it is to take advantage of compassion and love in this world when all I am able to see is the bad in everything around me.
I want to be able to remind myself that there is good in the world and that if I cannot find it, I have to be it. I want to remind everyone around me to be thankful for the love we are able to share and the human connections we are all able to make every day.
I think we all seem to forget that others around us have struggles of their own and we need to let go of the bitterness we tend to keep balled up inside of us and just be there for one another.
In this time of giving and thankfulness, I want everyone to remember that we all need to take a moment to be thankful for our lives and the people we share them with, whether that be blood or our chosen families. Our lives are so special, and just being able to share this time with the people we love and admire is a great privilege.
I want to say thank you to the friends I have lost, because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have met the friends I have gained in these past three amazing years in college. I think when we lose a close friend, our whole small world stops turning, and just for a little while we feel adrift. I want to acknowledge my thankfulness for losing those friends, because if not for losing them I wouldn’t have found myself along the way of being misplaced by society and what it defined me as. People are meant to come and go, and there are reasons as to why it happens that way. Sometimes you have to make room for the new and let the old carry on without you.
I want everyone to understand that even if you seem lost and in the dark, there is more to come. You have to have enough courage to keep on going, even when it seems like you’re at the end of the road.
I want to thank my mental illnesses, anxiety and depression, for making me acknowledge that I am not perfect; I am a little broken, but that doesn’t mean I am unworthy. Because of my mental illnesses I am able to see the pain in myself and want nothing more than to help others who feel the same. I am thankful for my broken pieces because if not for them, I would not be able to put others who feel the same back together. Though it is not my job, I feel the need to help those who, like myself, may not always have someone to do so. I am thankful for my pain, because if not for it, then I would not know what others are feeling in their times of darkness.
And last but not least, I want to thank myself. Not to be selfish or conceited, but just to acknowledge my strength. My body and my mind have been through great ordeals and I think without beating myself up every day, it’s important to show myself love as well.
We tend to focus on the bad but forget that we are so strong and prosperous. We have all put ourselves through so much stress and damage to get where we are, and somewhere along the way we forgot to acknowledge the strength it took to get here.
We all deserve a note of gratitude and this is it.
I am thankful and so are you.