Yesterday, I was all energetic, happy, laughing at my brothers’ jokes, and even dancing with my mom. Today, I’ve been in bed all day. And as usual, one thing I keep saying is how grateful I am to be alive. I don’t know why it always takes sickness or weakness or even accidents for us to realize how blessed it is to be alive and healthy.
No, I’m not saying that we are not grateful. I’m sure we all are grateful for life and how far we’ve come since the year started. But then that feeling of gratitude actually hits different when you are now unable to do the things you used to do, go places you used to go, or even eat the things you used to eat.
In that moment, everything comes flashing back in your memory, and you begin to feel like you’ve been taking certain things for granted. That’s how I feel right now. Actually, yesterday, after all the laughter and fun moments with my family, I got angry at something my brother did. He apologized, and I said okay but then went to bed angry and didn’t even genuinely forgive him.
I thought about the worst case scenario and how I would have probably regretted my actions. After all, it didn’t add anything to my life to keep that baggage in my heart. As a matter of fact, I’m the one who even suffered carrying that anger while he probably lived carefree and happily.
The funny thing is that we had the whole day planned. We were going to go shopping and then we go to the beach and from there, we come home to prepare for evening church service. And this carol service is actually something I’ve been looking forward to for a while, but guess what? I missed it. And that’s definitely a reminder that you can plan and plan and still miss out on everything you’ve planned. So I am grateful for all the times I was able to execute my plans.
This morning, after realizing I was going to spend my whole day in bed, I just planned a sleep schedule to sleep about three times during the day. And that is because I realized that although I’ve been active and healthy all year, one thing I’ve been missing out on is good sleep. The kind of sleep where you wake up feeling like you’ve have all the energy in the world. So I took advantage and then slept all day. And I'm grateful for that too.
There’s a reason they say you never know what you have until you lose it. Last year by this time, I was moving from one concert to another. I was going from one party to another. This year, … I’ve already said it.
I know I’m going to be better tomorrow, God willing, and inasmuch as I hate the feeling that comes with being ill, I am also happy that it came with a feeling of gratitude. And I’ll forever be grateful for being healthy throughout the year.
Images are mine