A Chance to Change
Thanksgiving can be a challenging time, especially when it seems like everyone is enjoying a special family time, but you. It can feel alone and isolating. But the truth is that not everyone is having a special family time. In fact, only 31% of the US population will be spending Thanksgiving with only immediate family. That means that the majority of us will be with friends, neighbors, or by ourselves.
How you choose to look at something affects how you feel about it. Thanksgiving is a great time to try and see what you are grateful for in your life. The more you see what you are grateful for, the more you will have to be grateful for.
It is so easy to focus on the hard, sad, and difficult things in life – because they are the most obvious. But take this difficult holiday as an opportunity to take just one day to really look at what you are grateful for: the breath in your lungs, the ability to see and hear, the sunshine – anything big or small.
I am thankful for your life. And all of us at Dream Makers want you to know that you matter and belong.
Here is a story that shows an example of how a perspective change can change your experience in life:
At the age of 39, he contracted polio, a debilitating disease that leaves one paralyzed throughout the body. Many thought this would crush his spirits and likely be the end of his career. Roosevelt thought otherwise.
In the depressing surroundings of his hospital bed and surrounded by a melancholy group of family and friends, Roosevelt made it a point to put on a bright and cheery disposition. Whether this was for the betterment of the people he cared for or for his own sake did not matter, the effect was noticeable.
By pretending to be happy and cheerful, he began to feel better. By acting happy, he did what a happy person would do. By acting happy, he actually became happy.
The disease may have robbed him of the use of his legs but it would not rob him of his ability to think for himself or to choose how he felt.
With this attitude, he made a miraculous, albeit incredibly difficult recovery. With incredible determination, he built his way back into the public arena, despite never regaining use of his legs.
Roosevelt bravely overcame his fears of being embarrassed by his disease in front of millions of people in the public arena.
He bravely forged ahead and became one of the strongest presidents of the United States in two of the most trying times in its history: the Great Depression and the Second World War.
The man that had to rebuild his own body, helped to rebuild the body of the United States after two debilitating blows. He never would have been able to do any of this had he not believed in the power for anyone and everyone to change and recover from their worst nightmares.
(The above story can be found here)
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