Being Thankful

What do you need to say thank you for?

It has been a wet week but for once I was grateful for the rain in the middle of the British summer. The gardens were crying out for a relief from weeks of intense sunshine. So was I.

As I pondered about saying thank you for the rain, I thought about people we need to say thank you to and things we need to say thank you for.

For the most part, when we consider saying thanks, we think of good things. But I want to spin this on its head and challenge us to think about the ‘Not so great’ things that we can still be thankful for.

We take the power away from situations when we look for the lessons they teach and the opportunities they give us to discover we are stronger than we thought.

When we are in the thick of a situation, it’s difficult to find the good in it but if we look hard enough we will always find some good.

As I pondered about the experiences that I am thankful for, a few stories came to mind.

Thankful for being cheated, bullied and feeling powerless

I remembered the first time I felt cheated and bullied. I was in primary school and a teacher wanted me to name the noise makers. I told her I didn’t know who they were and she accused me of protecting them and decided to send me out to sit in the hot sun. I felt powerless.

Later she found out the school inspectors were visiting the school and asked me to come inside the class. I refused and told her that if she was right in punishing me, then she had nothing to fear. I took my power back.

I was proud that I stood up for myself and this experience prepared me to deal with bullies later in life. I am thankful for learning I had a right to fair treatment.

Today, I remind myself that if I could speak out against injustice as a child, I have no reason to stop now.

Thankful for when the money wasn’t enough

I am thankful that my parents couldn’t afford everything I wanted and I didn’t have everything I desired. I knew what I wanted but I understood what my parents had to offer.

This led me to look for a part-time job as a student. I worked as a trainer with a Consulting firm which massively boosted my confidence as I found myself training people old enough to be my parents.

I was scared the first time I walked into a training room full of strangers who looked at me wondering if I was in the right room.

I am so grateful that I took a job for the money but got so much more in return. The job is still paying me forward today as I get opportunities to speak at events.

Thankful for being told ‘No’

There were many times in my career that I was told ‘No’.

‘No’ on the back of job interviews, ‘No’ to getting an opportunity to develop a new skill and sometimes ‘No’ to being chosen to be part of what I considered to be interesting work.

Every ‘No’ drove me to work harder and do self-assessments on what I could have done differently. On the back of these, I was able to take the necessary actions.

I went for qualifications years before I needed them. I prepared better for interviews and I worked hard on any opportunities that I was given.

Soon I became the person people wanted to work with and leaders were proud to have on their teams. Some missed opportunities turned out not to be so great.

Was I disappointed when I got the ‘No’?. You bet. Did I give in to despair? Yes, for a bit but then I dusted myself off and learnt from each experience. Today, I am confident in my ability to do great work.

As we all start a new week, think about your past disappointments, failures and struggles, and find something good that came out of it.

It could be that you are still standing or that you have a better insight to people. Maybe you no longer take life and others for granted or you’ve learnt to invest more in yourself, forgive others and yourself or to let go of the past.

You may have lost out once, but you can leverage the power of thankfulness. Look for things to be grateful for and you will turn your lemons into some sort of lemonade.

Thank you for reading and sharing my post every week. I set out to write about living a purposeful life – a life that’s the best version of us possible.

I pray your lives are as purposeful as you desire them to be. See you next week.