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A Journey of Gratitude

An adventure of a Lifetime

By Charlene Fuller-GossetPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Being thankful. What does it encompass? It all depends on who you ask. For every person you ask, the chances are really good that you'll get a different answer from each person. For me, being thankful is intertwined with being grateful and goes several steps deeper. Over time, I have found that being grateful is far more important that being critical, being rude, ungrateful and even selfish.

Growing up, I watched family and friends and listened to their prospective on life and situation. I heard a lot of criticism from many of those who had a major influence on my life. I heard so much criticism for so very long, I developed a resolve that I didn't want to be like that. I didn't want to be so critical of someone that it tainted my view of the world and those around me. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it but I know I had to try. It wasn't until I became an adult on my own that I came up with a plan. Each year when I would set up my goals and/or resolutions for the year, I would first and foremost place those goals under the umbrella of a year of gratitude. I've done that every year ever since. I searched for the good in others, I searched for the positives in my day instead of the negatives that happened. I didn't become extra grateful over night. It was and still is a journey. A journey that has brought me to a place where I see more blessings in my life than failures. I have become a more positive person and more of an encourager than someone who criticizes. Aging has assisted my attitude of gratitude along the way. I am so very grateful for where I am today. I'm grateful that I have a wonderful husband that balances me out when I get a bit too far into left field and brings me back to center. He keeps me grounded. I am grateful for the family have in spite of the fact that I don't have children of my own, I enjoy nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews along with the grands of cousins and long term friends. I am grateful for my home out in the country where life is peaceful and I can see the beauty of nature around me in the trees, the wild turkeys and deer I get to see running across cotton fields as well as eagles that fly overhead. I am so fortunate to have friends who encourage me to be the best me I can be.

I'm far from where I want to be. I bottom out emotionally like everyone else. I need encouragement like everyone else from time to time but I am far from the person I once was. I see gratitude in the things I do and the people I come in contact with. I am grateful for parents who loved me in spite of what I became that didn't mirror what they had dreamed for me. They did't factor in that I'd be a lot like my Dad's side of the family and become a free spirit who became very creative and has a rather short attention span. I sure do miss them today but they will always be in my heart.

This year has been crazy with COVID-19 making its rounds in all of the communities in the world but I am grateful that I'm able to look back and have the opportunity to talk about how I survived a continuing pandemic. I have my health which is very good right now and I am so grateful to be able to share my story with anyone who asks and to anyone who doesn't ask. I'll continue to share my story of gratitude as long as I can.

Gratitude is an essential part of my life, part of my very being. I am more grateful everyday for what I've been given. I am thankful for my family, friends and life itself. I'd rather be grateful and thankful than have the riches of this world. Who wouldn't. Happiness includes gratitude, being thankful and a peace of mind. That, is what life is all about.

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About the Creator

Charlene Fuller-Gosset

Charlene here and I'm currently in a retirement mode doing all of the fun things I didn't get around to doing while I was working and taking care of my parents as they aged.

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