Be Grateful For What You Have

Throughout out lives, there are times in which we come across others that may have a nicer car, a bigger house or other luxury items or talents we wish we had as well. Sometimes it may be difficult not having certain items or talents but looking at what you have in your life instead of what you don't have in your life may help put things into another perspective.

For example, when I was in high school, I ran track but was never as fast as some of our other runners and not as athletically gifted. It may have seemed hard at times knowing I was never going to be a championship runner, however, I decided to look at it from a different perspective. I looked at the experience as an opportunity to make some awesome friends (some of which I still talk to to this day) and find different ways to contribute to the team. I often found myself cheering on my teammates who helped win meets for us and even put together the end of the season video (a tradition that continues to this day).

In this case, I knew I didn't have the athletic ability some of my teammates possessed but I understood the awesome friends I had made and the importance of cheering on your teammates. I may not have been the fastest runner out there but knew I had met some great people and learned some valuable skills along the way.

As another example, growing up, I knew others that could paint and draw pictures really well, however, I could not (and still cannot) do either very well. Instead of being upset that I couldn't do either one of these activities very well, I found another way to be artistic by taking pictures. After years of doing video production, photography came easy because I was understood how to frame a shot, could vision what I wanted a photo to look like and it has become one of my favorite hobbies. Instead of being upset about not being able to draw or paint well, I am grateful I had the skills to take some great pictures and become artistic in that sense.

Even beyond my high school years, I have still come across those who have more athletic talents then I have, have other skills I don't possess and may have a few items I don't have as well. While it might be easy to be jealous or upset in these cases, I learned that looking at it from another perspective has helped me be grateful for the things I do have. By looking at things from this type of perspective, it has helped me appreciate the friends I have, what I can do and the small things in life that put a smile on my face.