I’m very grateful for the people around me who continue to inspire me to become a better version of myself. It’s amazing that they inspire not just through words of advice or inspirational quotes but through how they actually live their lives. I am truly moved by their stories which inspire me to make something beautiful with my life too. And I guess that’s one way of living– being with people who unknowingly motivate you to simply live a meaningful life.
I’m very grateful for all the tears I cried for they taught me that I am able to feel and that I am alive. I’m grateful for the heartaches and the breakdowns for they come along with redemption and wisdom. That my pain is valid and is fruitful in the end. That the feeling of emptiness and loneliness is not here to stay.
I’m very grateful for the rejections and failures I have gone through and will go through. These hurdles in my journey did not just break me but built my gut and my character. And there is probably nothing else in the world that is going to teach me to believe in myself harder when it is very challenging than these rejections that were given to me.
I’m very grateful for all the love that I receive, the kind of love that doesn’t ask for anything in return, for this equips me to love unselfishly too even if it is very difficult. I’m very grateful for the love that conquers the distance, the love that conquers all. That I am able to love in spite of the hatred that is going on in the world.
I’m very grateful that love shows itself in the most unexpected ways– like meeting people who were once strangers, or being in a place where you have no expectations. Love is everywhere if you just let its rays come in to your still-beating heart. I’m grateful for being allowed to witness love being expressed in different love languages and for learning that love should not be so difficult as how the world sees it now.
I’m very grateful for my calling. Even though I don’t know what is in front of me, at least I know what is beside me and it is light and grace that keeps me moving forward. I’m grateful for the opportunity of knowing that my life is significant. That I’m not a nothing in this world. That I am capable of doing great things. And the thought of this simply gives me hope.
I am grateful that the essence of my life is not my destination but the continuous journey I go through. I’m very grateful that my heart is reminded every day to worry less about the things it cannot control. It is so much stronger now for it’s learning to let go of the weight it doesn’t need. What I choose to do is an overflow of what I choose to carry in my heart and so, my heart is ultimately grateful for whatever it carries right now.
By Sheehan Belleca for ThoughtCatalog