Do you ever just stop and think how lucky you are?

[ProverbialOuthouse]

I don't know if I'm just on a high or what (I suffer with irrational mood swings) but I often just stop and think about how lucky I am.

Example - a few nights ago I got into bed, got comfy with my iPad and thought "shit, I'm so lucky - I'm laid here in a beautiful comfy bed, in a lovely warm house, playing on an iPad with reliable wifi, a full belly and a class of clean water beside me". It's the little things. How many people at that moment would be trying to sleep in an alley way, hungry and cold and wondering if they'll make it through the night without being picked on by idiots passing by? How many people at that moment would be laid in a mucky bed, cold because the electric/gas had ran out and wondering whether the pennies they have left for the week will stretch to another meal? And I'm talking about this country (uk) alone. In other places the outlook can be so much worse.

Last night I went to grab the milk out of the fridge and a load of stuff fell out - why? Because the fridge is so full that there isn't the room for everything. I had another of my moments in thinking how lucky I am and said to DH "the fridge is so full stuff is falling out of it, arnt we lucky so have that?". He gave me a look and said "not this again!". But I can't help it!! I can't just take these things for granted, I feel they should be appreciated and acknowledged regularly. I wasn't always so lucky - there was a time when I had to choose between eating or having heating so maybe that's why I'm like this?

Not a goady or boasting thread btw and I realise that some people reading this may not be so lucky but does anyone else sometimes just stop and count their blessings over the little things? Or am I odd?

Every day. I grew up not eating breakfast and not knowing what carnage I would walk in to after school. If I went to school. In fact I struggle sometimes and feel quite spoiled and pampered (because I have perfectly normal things like fresh milk or bread).

I try and do a lot for charities/food banks and that makes me feel a bit more like I am helping a child who may be currently growing up like I did.

Most of us have effectively won the lottery. That is how it would appear to someone in the third world. Yet I don't go around feeling like a lottery winner, I go around wishing I were a genuine lottery winner if you see what I mean.

Being dissatisfied with one's lot is natural. Otherwise we'd still be living in caves. It's the human way to always want more.

These are the things for which I'm grateful:
I had 2 parents who loved me and tried their best. I knew all my grandparents and they also loved me.
I had a great education and a lot of opportunity.

I particularly appreciate RELIABLE AND FREELY AVAILABLE CONTRACEPTION and DENTISTRY - my poor ancestors with their rotting teeth and hundreds of unwanted babies.

If I can't sleep and feel sorry for myself I do think about homeless people and where they are sleeping compared to me. It always stops the woe is me thoughts.

I have just had a fall and I have a massive scab on my face and swollen lip. I hid away for a couple of days and then made myself go out yesterday. Yes I got a few odd looks but the reason I went out was it went through my head about all the people who have permanent disablement who have to get out there and live. I felt vain and pathetic.

We all face hardships, and make comparisons about how we are doing compared to others, particularly in these showy days (designer this, Instagram that) but we do forget how lucky we are in the main.

This afternoon, on this lovely sunny autumnal day, I am going for a walk in the country and I am going to have a lovely meal cooked for me later. I am having a long bath, with a book, and watching Cold Feet on catch up, with a G & T - simple stuff but it is the simple stuff that matters.

Yes, me too. I have been homeless, skint, etc.
I have never ceased to be grateful for being able to afford a car, after infrequent rural buses with kids and shopping, hitch hiking to GP appointments or dentist in all weathers.
To be able to heat the house, have hot water and not dread the bill arriving, knowing that we would have to go without to pay it. That cleanliness does not cost nothing.
To be able to buy new clothes or used ones by choice.
To be able to buy naice food and wine. (I've kept the tin opener, though 😀)
Whilst writing this, DH came in to say that our rather old fridge freezer in the kitchen has just stopped working. This would have been unmitigated disaster when we were poor but we are just choosing our new one online.
Not to mention things like medication, health and love.

Gosh yes, I do this quite often. My husband is kind and thoughtful. I have two great children. I have a washing machine, dishwasher, oven, fridge and freezer. When my son was last pukey, I could just bung his bedding in the washer and put the spare bedding on.

My house, while not enormous, is safe and comfortable.

Dh and I had this exact conversation a few days ago. I'm 37 weeks pregnant with ds2 and with ds1 we were living in rented accommodation and money was tight. Since then we've bought our first home and both had promotions at work. Things are on the up!

Doing the nursery and sorting all the baby clothes and things we have also made me feel very grateful and appreciative. The fact that I'm even pregnant is a blessing. So lucky just to be living my life how I want. I won't ever take it for granted.

I remember when i was on holiday in the summer in a seaside resort. Got up very early one morning and went out for a walk, the number of people i saw sleeping in shop doorways was shocking. A lot of them young women. I remember thinking how hard it must be when they're menstruating, it must be so hard to keep clean, and the fact that they can't just get up and go to the toilet. All things we take for granted i suppose.

I do very often

I have an online journal thing where I jot down one thing that made me happy each day. One line a day, which makes it easier to read back. It’s great.

Lovely post, yes we should all do it more often. I went away with the Forces a few times for months at a time (to much poorer, dustier places) and I'll never forget the feeling I had each time coming back to Blighty - flying back over it it looked like an impossibly twee, idyllic place; amazingly green countryside with colourful toytown villages interspersed - think I understood how American tourists feel! Then on landing quite overwhelming amounts of stuff/consumerism everywhere, but also amazing hospitals, schools, shiny cars, lovely food, nice houses & just lots to be grateful for, not forgetting still being in one piece too. Lasted about a month usually!

Yes. I feel really blessed from my terrible childhood to where I am now.

Yes, more and more these days. I read threads on MN about people struggling through illness and disability, people desperately seeking employment or stuck in low paid jobs with little chance of getting anything better, posters in unhappy or outright abusive relationships and it does give me perspective. More so than looking at war torn countries on the news etc.

Not that I don't feel for those people of course! I think though it's seeing the experiences of people who I'd probably think from the outside looking in are just like me (in the sense of being a mother in a western country, not run by a dictator, not experiencing war or famine) and then realising the hardships some people experience, that you couldn't know necessarily unless they told you. So while I certainly have my own "stuff" going on (who hasn't?), I think I've got to a point where I do appreciate things that I might otherwise take for granted. I suppose I feel content and I think I'm lucky to feel that way.

@Notreallyarsed yes, my DS is very much improved thankyou. He was discharged yesterday to fully recover at home.

Yes, DH and I often do.

Lovely post

I've been to hell and back. 19yrs ago I was desperate to die, I had no future. And it got a lot worse for seven more yrs before it hot better. And now I'm loved and happy and content and safe and warm and I count my blessings each and every day. I will never ever get over the horrors that were done to me, but my God, I am so fortunate.
Lovely post, thanks op.

Yes, I do. I have a decent paying job as does DH, we have enough food, we have two awesome teens who have free education, we have clean water. We don't have loads of money, but I'm very lucky for what I have.

Both parents died in my twenties after shockingly awful time.
My divorce came through a couple of months ago.
The future is very up in the air and concerning

BUT every frickin' days o count my lucky starts.
I have two children. Both healthy and happy and my everything
I have my health
I have a lovely home
A full fridge
A wonderful group of friends
I'm very fit
An ex husband who I love and trust as a wonderful father

So on paper my life isn't great, but in actual fact my life is bloomin' amazing

A lovely thread OP. Thank you.

I might be wrong but I'm guessing that no one on this thread suffers from depression and we are all an optimistic fairly robust group of people.

Me too. I had a very poor and rather shitty upbringing. Things are so different now. I have an adult DS and a fabulous DH. A beautiful home, job car etc. Not to mention the things we take for granted such as the NHS, clean water, facilities.
It took a lot of hard work, but I have much to be thankful for.

Thanks so much for this thread OP. I'm going to put in my favourites to have a read every once in a while.

I think I'm normally quite pessimistic about things (basically Eeyore personified 😂), but any time I do actually stop and think about what I have to be grateful for, I do feel so incredibly bloody lucky.

Pastys I hope your DS has a speedy recovery

I have this moment every time I'm cuddling up to my dcs I didn't think I'd be able to have children and I'm so appreciative that I have been so blessed.
Every time anyone asked how my ds is now I count my blessings he was seriously ill a few times during his first year and we were so scared for him but he's a healthy chubby nearly 2 year old now :)

Very often. I suspect it's one reason I'm usually happy. Also every day I wake up not ill (I am just about never ill) I am glad. So many people suffer mental or physical health problems. I am very lucky indeed.
I have always been a huge optimist.

Even just earlier I was in the garden in bare feet in the sun thinking how lovely it all was (come in to do a load of work now but even that I am really lucky clients are prepared to instruct me rather than another lawyer).

It probably helps if you've had a lot less in the past or been ill as you can do the contrast. We did not have central heating when I was little until I was a bit older, that kind of thing. I like sleeping in my own bed room rather than sharing it. I can afford food. Also a lot of things other people want I don't want which again makes me feel very lucky, stuff like special shoes and trips to the hair dressers etc.

Op you sound lovely

So glad other people do this too. I woke up with a massive headache today, the type were you feel it pulsing if you move your head. I lounged around the house feeling sorry for myself for a bit and then dragged myself out to take the dog for a walk. It's lovely and sunny out there, I took my hoody off and felt the sun and a slight breeze on my skin. The field I walk him on is deserted and silent so it was just me, him and the birds. Instant relaxation ... headache starts to ease off ... I get home and headache returns so I drag myself to the gym, completed another day of my couch to 5k program and then drove home feeling all sweaty and smelly. Got in the shower, lovely warm water, nice smellys, dry towels, comfy baggy clothes ... had another "moment" of "I'm so lucky" :-)

I suppose you can find good in most daily events if you look hard enough.

Yes all the time. Also when I feel a bit guilty about not having much space for my kids, this gallery makes me realise that actually they are very lucky too!
photos-of-kids-bedrooms-from-around-the-world/