Saying Grace
alison young
Keynote Speaker, Writer & Adventurer | 13,000+ Miles Walked | Cancer Thriver | Reinvention & Resilience Expert | "Inspiring You to Hike Your Own Hike"
What are your thankful for?
As we gather around the table this Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States, I’ve been thinking about what I will say when my turn comes to say what I'm grateful for.?
The list is so long! I've been incredibly fortunate—blessed with a loving and amazingly supportive partner, good health, a thriving career, and a circle of wonderful friends. Life is good!
But there have also been some really tough moments with challenges that have left me feeling shattered and nearly broken.
That’s right, feeling shattered and nearly broken.?
And that got me to thinking—what if it wasn’t just blessings that we were grateful for, but the less-than-good things that happen to us, the things we struggle with??
grateful for the struggle
Maybe this year brought you a tough, uncompromising boss or a nasty breakup, or a brush with a scary disease that required months of recovery time. I’ve been there and going back is painful.?
So to say a prayer of thanksgiving for all that feels counterintuitive especially when we would much prefer to put all that behind us as quickly as possible.
领英推荐
But I think it’s easy to be happy and content—to be grateful—when things go well. It’s when they don’t go well that we’re tested.
Struggles mold and shape us. It's within the struggle that we meet our true selves and it's in the tough times we discover our strength.
I challenge you this year to not only ask yourself what or who you're grateful for, but also to reflect on a different question: What struggle are you grateful for? How has it shaped and enriched your life?
hope for what's next
Every time I hit a new trail, there are lessons waiting for me. No matter how much I plan and the years of expertise I take with me, I make mistakes. If I spent too much time wallowing in those mistakes, I’d never get anywhere!
The trail, like life, keeps me humble and open to learning. I’m handed the opportunity to look at my problems as obstacles or as opportunities – and for that, I am grateful.
Anne Lamot wrote, “I do not at all understand the mystery of grace – only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.”
Be grateful for how all things in your life have shaped you, the good, the bad and the ugly. They brought you to this moment and give you hope for what’s to come.?
I am so thankful you have joined me as my reader. May you have a blessed and joyous Thanksgiving!?
Transformation Facilitator | Unlocking the Real You | Creating Expansion | Creator of The Thriving Life Method? | Coach | Speaker | Podcaster
2 个月Excellent reframe! Love it!
Keynote Speaker | Entrepreneur | Engages, Educates & Empowers Emerging Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Builder | Infotainer | Corporate Magician & Mentalist
3 个月Way to share alison! If we live a life without challenges, we probably aren’t trying to accomplish anything great. And every challenge or setback is there to prepare us for the next opportunity to excel and succeed.
Keynote Speaker | Award-Winning Author | Founder, Days for Girls | Expert in Transformational Communication | Driving Innovation, Equity & Impact
3 个月@Allison, I look forward to your articles and this one does not disappoint. This quote is worthy of a meme, “The trail, like life, keeps me humble and open to learning. I’m handed the opportunity to look at my problems as obstacles or as opportunities – and for that, I am grateful.” It’s true. Every trial that I have ever experienced brought gifts in its wake and some I couldn’t imagine could possibly contain seeds of good things ahead. But always… they come.
Media has been always been a passion.
3 个月A perfect message for this day. You are a thriving survivor. Your constant drive to be your best self and your curiosity to find what you will learn, find, and encounter around or over the next hill is inspiring. Wishing you a life full of abundance! ??
I help independent media and creative agencies ease the frustrations of day-to-day business operations #omnicertified
3 个月alison young, I like the idea that our past experiences not only shape us but give us hope for what's to come. Thankyou!