Will you wake up tomorrow with everything you're thankful for?

It's that time of year again. That time where you're bombarded with the question "what are you thankful for?" While yes it may be quite annoying and redundant to answer the same question twenty times over, it is a perfect time to reflect on all that you have been given in life. The big and the small, all deserve thanking. I have a blog post sitting in my drafts section from about three months ago entitled "The Art of Saying Thank You." As I sit here and write this I regret not publishing that post when I wrote it because even though it wasn't Thanksgiving time, we all need to take time to be thankful for those people and moments in life that we often overlook on a daily basis.
I can personally say this year has given me so much to be thankful for. I thank God everyday for my friends and family that continue to sit by my side even as I'm frantically trying to figure out life. I'm thankful for my education, my dogs, my job, my roof over my head, my clothes on my back and so much more. I sit here and look at the quote "what if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?" and I recognize that I would be without just about everything in my life except for my family and friends. While I do think I would be able to consider myself rich if that's all I had in life, how would I live without these other "things" in life? Why don't we take five minutes everyday to thank God for what we are given? As thanksgiving passed this year, I made a vow to myself to take a minimum of five minutes everyday to reflect on life and what I'm thankful for. So as I begin this journey I begin it with this blog post.
What am I thankful for today and everyday? I'm thankful for my mother who selflessly gives her all to her children. I'm thankful for my brother who somehow still puts up with me after I scream the words "five days" at him over and over again. I'm thankful for the thanksgiving dinner leftovers that fill my refrigerator. I'm thankful for getting through this 5 day break without anyone asking "so do you have a boyfriend?" I'm thankful for the new pair of Donald Duck Vans that my mother blessed me with yesterday. I'm thankful for FaceTime to have been able to see my sister in Colorado as she missed her first thanksgiving at home. I'm thankful for the Five as I don't know how I'd get through school without them. I'm thankful for my sisters and sealios. I'm thankful for my best friend. I'm thankful for my worst enemy. I'm thankful for my grandma and her warm heart for allowing me to go to London. I'm thankful for the kind words of others. I'm thankful for library tables and Uptown coffee. I'm thankful for the smile that changed my life. I'm thankful for my life.
Everything in your life is there for a reason. Even if it may seem bad at that moment, it's there for a reason because God knows that you need it. Your path is waiting for you to walk and be thankful for everything that you pass and encounter along the hike. As you know from previous posts, I strive for and off of challenges. I challenge myself to be thankful for five minutes everyday in self-reflection. How are you going to challenge yourself to recognize those things that you are thankful for on a daily basis? I hope you reflect on that, and discover a way to be thankful everyday. You deserve to wake up tomorrow with everything you had today.

do what makes YOU happy

Lately I've realized that much of my days are filled with trying to please others. Trying to do what makes them happy so they aren't mad at me, so I can move on with my day. This isn't how things should be though, we have to live with ourselves everyday. We spend the most time with ourselves, but we try to do what makes other people and society as a whole happy. Something in this equation just doesn't add up. Have you done inventory of what makes you happy lately? What are those little things that you may do during your daily routine that you don't recognize are making you happy? Or if you don't find yourself happy everyday, what are those things that you can do that will brighten your day?

It's hard to be happy. There are a lot of pressures that can bring you down, but every single person deserves to be happy. I personally have had a really tough semester, but lately I've truly realized what the little things are that bring me some spark of happiness during the day. While I may not be happy with my day, or the events occurring throughout my day I do find ways to bring happiness into my life, in hopes that I can help others be just as happy. As I walk to class everyday and I walk through the crisp leaves on the ground and hear the slight crunching noise I find happiness. As I continue on my journey down High Street going to class, I realize that I am happy looking at the sheer simplicity of Longwood's campus and the happiness on other people's faces. I look at my phone and see a text message from my mother, or any family member, and I am brought happiness knowing that they are there. I walk into the library and am greeted with open arms from those closest to me at Longwood, and I see and feel happiness. I sit here at 1:45 in the morning writing this blog and I am just as happy as I could ever be for how sleep deprived I am. 

I could go on for days. These are all such little tasks, but together they are monumental, and that is what happiness is about. It's about being more than content, being more than okay, it is about living the life you want to live every second of every day. Be happy. Cherish life and be happy. I challenge you to take those small tasks, recognize which ones make you happy, and acknowledge when they happen during your day. If you are able to sit back and see the happiness in your life, you will be able to move forward and help others achieve this happiness as well.