BUS 110 W13 Reflection

        A Journey of Gratitude. I like this phrase. It evokes feelings of highs and lows, triumphs and trials, and most of all - growth. The study this week is all about learning to be grateful for learning experiences as we go through life. Stan Christensen said, "don't do things because you think it's what other people want you to do." What a smart idea! When we go through our 13+ years of school and graduate before we are even out of our teen years, we are expected to make a life-long decision about what we want to work as a career. Why? Why should we spend our formative years - which happens to be less than 20 years of our lifetime - focusing on what the next 60 years of our lives will be? 

        Take the time to learn from our mistakes, change jobs as often as we need to, make friends and have relationships, get your heart broken a few times, and learn from it. I often have to stop myself and think about the timing of everything that society asks of us. When timing is put into perspective, life becomes more clear for me. For example, I have known my husband for 24 years, which is 10 years more than I haven't known him. We have been married for 17 years this summer, which is mind-boggling to us. It seems like just yesterday we were hanging out in the band room after the football game waiting on our parents, but now we have teenage children who are the same age we were when we met. Then I stop and think about a parent. This parent was married for 28 years - longer than they weren't married. Now they are turning 60 and they are determined to never date or marry again. What folly! This parent has at least 15-20 YEARS of being single - what sane person chooses that? Especially when the other party has moved on in every conceivable way?

        What I mean to convey with these examples is that we have to slow down. Take stock of your life as it is and consider your blessings. Even if you are in a low place, you can find things to be grateful for, just as you can be grateful when you are at your best. When you take this moment to be grateful, consider what blessings could be coming - next week, next month, next year+. Taking the time to be grateful in this moment and planning to improve for the future while keeping perspective will help you find your place in this chaotic world. 

        President Thomas S. Monson said, "We can lift ourselves, and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude." Choose to be grateful, choose to find the happy, choose to plan for your future with joy and excitement. You are worth it!