What I learned from Hurricane Irma...

This is a great time to reflect on the past year, looking forward to the future, but most importantly - what we are grateful for right now.

We have so much to be thankful for - our families, our health, our work, our friends, fresh food & water, freedom… the list goes on & on.

Gratitude is the single best quality that I have learned in my life. This goes for daily living, goals, and my work. Even most business books discuss gratitude. If you aren’t grateful for what you have, how can you attract more?

In 2017, Hurricane Irma, a category 5 storm, was heading for a direct hit on my home, Sarasota, FL. I had a 2-year-old and a 2-month-old, and we live on the water. It was one of the scariest times of my life as we were all battling terror, evacuation, supplies, and keeping our families safe.

The storm missed us, and we were fine - thank goodness! We did, however, lose power for eight days. With two small children, we left home after a few days to a hotel to have fresh food, air conditioning, and all the joys of electricity.

While I wouldn’t want to revisit the terror of Irma ever again, I learned a few life lessons that have changed my life:

I learned to be grateful for the small things in life because they truly are the big things.

Every night, I write in a gratitude journal and list five to ten things I’m grateful for the day. I find what I’m most grateful for is what is so easy to take for granted:

• Cold air conditioning
• My family’s health
• My health & energy
• Ice cubes in my drink
• A fridge full of fresh food
• Laughter & joy in our home
• My parents are alive & healthy
• My husband home every night with us
• Fresh water
• Our community
• My work & colleagues
• My arms & legs, my heart beating, my lungs working

The list goes on & on. But you can see that I’m most grateful for the ordinary, everyday things that make life beautiful.

I am thankful for you. Whether we’ve worked together, you have become a franchisee, you decided it’s not for you, or you’re currently researching now…

Thank you.

Thank you for impacting my life. Thank you for almost 18 years of doing what I love and watching you brave souls change your lives through franchise ownership.

If you want to change your life, write down what you’re grateful for every day. Feel it, say thank you, and watch your life improve right in front of your very eyes.

Happy Thanksgiving, and I wish you all the best that life has to offer!

-Melissa