Mom Jean Confessions: Dear Younger Self, Be Grateful

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine shared a meme in her Facebook group & it’s stuck with me ever since.

I scrolled past it at first, until literally the next post on my feed was an article shared by my sister-in-law. All I had to do was read the title “Neuroscience Reveals How Gratitude Literally Rewires Your Brain to Be Happier.” I went right back and commented on my friend’s post – “Be Grateful.” It seems so simple, and as I read through the dozens of other comments, “Have Faith, Don’t Stress, Slow Down,” I couldn’t help but wonder – why does it take us so long to realize these simple life lessons?

I had a conversation with family recently about overcoming adversity, and how people handle success and failure in life differently. I believe a lot of that has to do with learning to be humble, which goes hand in hand with being grateful in my opinion. Trust me, I wasn’t always the most humble, or even grateful, of humans – especially when I was younger. I honestly don’t think it was until I experienced the bitter and life-changing loss of my dad to cancer when I was 23, that I truly realized what it meant to be grateful for the blessings in your life.

The feeling of gratefulness is hard to explain, but it happens to me more and more these days. It hits me hard in the best way possible. Sometimes it’s right after my kids wake up, and I feel so dang grateful to be able to work from home now and not feel like I have to rush off to work every day. Other times, it’s when I sit back and watch Grant throw them around on the bed in their evening “tickle fest” ritual, thinking to myself – “What did I do to get so lucky?”

Then somedays, like one particular one I had this weekend, gratefulness just fills your heart so much that you think it might burst ? We’d invited family here in Houston over to our house to swim, and went for an early celebratory dinner for Grant’s birthday next weekend. I doubt anyone noticed, but I knew. I knew what my younger self finally learned after all these years. That sometimes to be grateful just takes a little time, but when you get there – it’s so worth it.