Gratefulness as an option

“When gratefulness is an option, always choose it every time.”

This was the line that struck me in Anne Hathaway’s magazine interview.

Life is a series of decisions. Sometimes, we make good ones and stumble upon bad ones. Some bad decisions, we know from the start and still pushed on, and others, well, we thought it was good until it went bad, OR it was good but ended up bad. Because of life’s unpredictability, we try to forge paths never really knowing what happens next.

But it is in this unpredictability that life becomes life. We either rise above the occasion, stay safe, or get let down. When we understand that nothing stays permanent, we do our best to go with the flow. No amount of happiness nor sadness stays forever.

The same is true with our experiences. For mine, I have had thoughts about how something I really wanted never materialized. It’s like having all the ingredients and all I must do is boil them together. However, by some twist of fate, the stove had malfunctioned. I was left disillusioned and probably regretted why I never started it earlier. But as I look back and really digest what happened, it was not meant to happen at all, I was meant to be invited to a four-course dinner!

I realized that the little mishaps and the frustrations were nothing but a slice of spice. In the grand scheme of things, those that I thought I lost were not mine to begin with. What’s funny is that the things that I thought were near impossible to acquire, I got them.

Circling life, I have built an attitude of gratitude. I believe that what’s meant for me will ALWAYS find me, no matter where I am in life. And although sometimes I miss the signals, I always try to pause and detach myself and recalibrate what is important to me. I am grateful for the missed chances, all my “almost” and my wrong turns because they prepared me to be the woman I am today.

It would be a lie to say that I don’t get consumed with negativity when I am going through difficult times. Most often, I would be swallowed by it. However, I try to remember that diamonds come from the rough. It achieved its shine by going through a rough process to smoothen its edges.

When there is gratitude, we try to look at life through a different lens. Sure, it is not all the glitters and gold but the values and lessons that I have learned after every downfall, heartache, heartbreak, and failure carried me through life.