Gratitude. The most underrated tool for a good life.
In the 24 shorts years that I’ve lived,I have learned a very important lesson. It’s not what goes on in your physical world (getting a 6 figure job, nice new car, more money,bigger house, more Instagram followers, etc…), but what goes on in your mental world. What goes on in your head (Your thoughts, your dreams, your beliefs, what you information you feed your mind, etc…).
There was a time when I wasn’t so sure what I was going to do with my life. I was bored. Bored of life. To me, it was all the same. Eat, sleep, work, repeat. To me, the only exciting thing about life is when you’re chasing something. When you’re working towards a goal. But, eventually I realized that, even that (working towards and achieving goals) was all the same too. You accomplish a goal, and your brain releases a chemical making you feel good about your accomplishment. Then what? Bored again? Yes. No, I didn’t want to die in case you’re thinking that. I just simply had no direction, and no purpose of being alive. I was like a zombie. Aimlessly walking. Buying all the material things to fill a void. Consuming like some animal. Buying what ever these corporations tell me. The next thing I should wear, eat, drive, etc… This went on for years until I realized what I needed to fix wasn’t my physical self, but my mental self. The part of ourselves that actually matter. See, one of the first things that I realized about myself is that my life wasn’t shit. In fact, it was good. I realized that I was only bored because of the fact that I was always chasing something. There was always a goal that I wanted to accomplish. To add on to my list of things I have done in life so that one day, when I’m on my death bed I can say “My life wasn’t a waste.”All that this did was to have my brain keep looking for that next chemical release after accomplishing something. Its almost like I was a crackhead looking for the next high. I have good parents, raised right, good job, etc… But I wasn’t realizing that because I was always so focused on what the next thing is going to be. What more I can add to my life, what more I can do to not waste my time when all I had to be doing was to be thankful of what I already have. To be grateful. Once I realized this, I SHIT YOU NOT. I have never had to work hard for anything ever again in my life. I also have never wanted anything ever again in my life and still remain happy. This is because I simply realized that what ever I already have is a blessing. The air, the water I drink, waking up in the morning, being able to see, etc… and to want for anything more is just a bonus. Along with this, I also realized that the things we have, we take for granted on a daily basis. Sometimes we even complain about things in life, things which we should be grateful for even though it didn’t provide us a desirable outcome, but we should be grateful anyway because of the lesson it brought.
Nothing changed in my physical life. Everything was the same. The only difference was that I re-framed my mindset which brought me to a point that I may never want for anything again in my life and to just simply just live my life one experience at a time and that I am grateful for every single experience that come to me. Once I had successfully implemented this in my life, never again did I have to chase anything.
I believe that in this world that we live in, we all create our own suffering, and that is exactly what I was doing with myself. Creating suffering through the constant need of achievement, and I think that the worst of this is that most of the time, a lot of the things that we do is to just impress somebody else. Impress our Instagram followers, friends,feed our ego, people online that we don’t even care about, etc… when all that we need to be doing is to be grateful of what we already have.
To some reading this, you may be thinking that I am being a hypocrite because I am writing this so that I can accomplish a goal. That goal is to grow my followers for this website, or social media for the company, etc… to which I say, YOU’RE RIGHT. I am doing that, but the difference is that I no longer have the need to accomplish this. I just see where it goes. If it fails it fails, if not then great. Sure, I don’t plan on failing, but to me, this company is merely an experience. I no longer cower at the thought that this venture might fail because I am grateful for the experience it has, and will provide. Personally, that’s enough to keep myself happy.
Many may not understand what I’ve written, because quite frankly I wouldn’t have understood it either before I came to the realization, but I do hope that this blog reaches those who need to hear it so that they too can bring change to their life. It took a single video to open my eye to the endless possibilities of life, a single video that lead me to this first step. Gratitude. So why not think hard about what you have just read. Maybe, just maybe. It will change your life too.
Thank you for reading. If you have any comments, criticism, or suggestion for improvement to my writings please post them in the comment below. Have a fantastic day.