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?

I try and count my blessing regularly.

I have had years of depression, and i became very very materialistic. Constantly chasing the one shiny thing that would make me happy. I bought clothes / shoes / gadgets thinking 'this is the one, i will be happy'. Obviously none of it worked.

Once i went on medication and became stable (doing fine for 2years now) i realised that actually material things aren't important and don't make me 'complete'.

I had a big clear out and i'm actually quite minimalist now. The things that make me truly happy are knowing i am safe and content. I live alone in a nice apartment, i pay my bills (don't have much left after!), don't worry about putting the heating on / buying food, have a job i love, good friends and fantastic parents. Appreciating the small things really helps me. I realise, even though i whinge before payday that i'm skint, that i'm a lot better off than many.

I'm very very lucky

Yes I do. When I pour a glass of water I often think about the people on the packed trains being taken to concentration camps in Nazi Germany and how they would have felt about the water.
It also blows my mind that I have grown up and lived during a period when there has not been a war in the country that I live in, that I had an education and free health care. So much to be thankful for.
Thanks for this thread too by the way.

I did congess to my friend the other week that when i've done a big shop i like to look in the fridge now and then. It makes me happy to see it full

She admitted she likes to look at her kids ironed school uniforms laid out for a monday morning. Said it makes her feel content. It really is the little things!

*confess

yep.every day.

YANBU - I do this sometimes too.

In fact, after feeling bloody fed up all day at being 33 weeks pregnant and being in a lot of pain and discomfort, your post has helped me put things in to perspective... so thank you.

Last night actually. We broke down (luckily in a well lit place with lots of people around) but we were able to pay for AA to come out and pay for the replacement part they fixed (admittedly from savings, but we could do it). So, so grateful we are in a position to do that and it dawned on me how many people would have really struggled and left me wondering what they would have done (and how an unexpected problem can tip budgets over the edge).

It was such a relief. We had two kids in the car, both desperate to go to sleep in a bed and over an hour drive from home. I almost cried when the AA guy got the car going and I knew the kids would soon be back in bed (and us).

Yes I do. Often In bed like the OP, I count my blessings and I’m so thankful that I have a roof over my head, a job, and a family and friends who I love. When things aren’t going great I find it really useful to write down 3 good things that have happened that day. Little things like someone thanking me at work, not having to wait ages in traffic etc. Helps take my mind off things that haven’t gone well that I’d otherwise be dwelling on.

Yes! I make a point of doing it at least once per day.

I so often hear people who have plenty moan about not having more, not that there is anything wrong with wanting more and working towards that, more like a jealosy thing.

Not particularly. I do take stock if something has upset me and count my blessings. Other than that no.

I do this often Op, especially after a holiday to India a few years ago, really made me appreciate things even more.

Am I the only one who gets filled with guilt that I have it better than some, then intense anxiety that I could lose the things most important (kids, health, good relationship)? I do practice gratitude and think about it a lot ..especially reading bereavement and ttc threads, the horrible pain people go through, idk how they cope..but it doesn't fill me with warm and fuzzies or make happier. I feel like a jerk/wet blanket on the discussion now but it's another aspect I feel

I am thankful every single day.

I was just thinking this today. Live in a rural area and it was a lovely sunny day today. Late afternoon, I got on my bike and had a lovely relaxing ride down some quiet country roads with fields on both sides at sunset. I thought how lucky I am that I live in an area where you can do this. I sometimes consider how much people's surroundings must impact on their mental health - it's hard to be unhappy if you're surrounded by countryside ( for me anyway).

Every day.
Don't know if it's because I've been through some very hard times.
As a child growing up I took my life for granted. But after ill health, an abusive relationship and brief homelessness (because we had to flee the house) as well as watching my son fight for his life I do think every day how lucky I am to live in this house, free from abuse and with my two happy children

Lovely Thread.

I have a friend who is a poet and beautiful prose writer.

Every day on FB she shares the small things for which she is grateful, from her cat sleeping in the sun, a bird on the feeder or for kindness from others. This is inspirational and wonderful to read, it makes me stop and recognise how lucky I am.

I have had a hellish couple of years, which combined with recurring anxiety has made life difficult.
However, I try to look around me and note all those things which make my life so lovely. That is mostly the people I love but also Nature around me, being able to grow and cook my food, the changing seasons, the passion with which people fight injustice.

I hope those who are feeling sad can find a little glimmer of light in their lives.

I've been reflecting on this a lot recently. Triggered in the main by lottery type fantasy conversations with friends. I realised if I won a lot of money I would probably just pay off debts and upgrade existing things but fundamentally I was content and lacked very little. I feel very lucky to have a nice house and a lovely family who live in it with me and animals I can just about afford to keep who make me very happy.

Yes, very, I was actually born with congenital rubella syndrome and I know a lot of other people, one of them a good friend of mine, who were affected really badly by it. My good friend can't hear, can't see, had a heart defect, and had meningitis when she was a baby so she is also paralyzed. I've also worked for 10 years in developing countries, so have seen a lot at a young age. I also do a lot of work with some amazing people. I know a few albinos from kenya and uganda who get death threats yet they continue to do a great job in being leaders and wanting change for albinos.

I was rocked by a death recently. Not somebody I'd ever met, but I'd followed their story online for years. I cried when I read they'd died- it was unexpected, and very sudden.

Since then, I find myself taking a moment when I walk out my front door every morning. It takes a second but I take a deep breath, and think how lucky I am to be healthy enough to walk outside, fit enough to be able to work full time, and lucky enough to have so many luxuries such as private health insurance (I'm not in the UK), a lovely home, lots to eat, money for leisure.

I'm with you, OP.

Yes, to the posters who say about looking at their children asleep in their warm clean beds.

It is the last thing I do before I switch off the lights and go to sleep.

I feel so privileged that I can keep them safe and with me and go to sleep expecting to see them again in the morning. In the darkest corners of my mind, some mother is suffering the unthinkable. Tonight, for now, that is not me.

Haven't RTFT. Yep, I should probably appreciate what I have more than lament what I don't have. Nowadays I have a non-abusive and supportive DP so I appreciate that because it's in such contrast to what I experienced before but yes, it's the things we take for granted that should be appreciated most of all. I have health (bar PCOS and some minor niggles),I have my family (aside from my brother who died years ago) and I have all the luxuries of the modern world. Great thread OP.

Oh god yes, all the time. Often when I get into a deep hot bath I think to myself, 'just imagine you've come home from a long holiday where the only bathing facilities was a tin bath that needed filling from water from a well that had been heated in saucepans.' And really wallow and appreciate it. (Went on such a Holliday when I was 20, and as others have said it's the contrast that matters.)

I often grumble in my head about the low ceilings in my house and then try to be grateful that I own my own home.

Thank you for this thread.
I do stop and think...

But don't find myself talking about that kind of thing with others.

Such an uplifting thread- thank you.

I do think like this fairly often. I think its often human nature to want more and there's nothing at all wrong with having ambitions. It is also important to really think about and appreciate what could easily be taken for granted. I have lived v frugally at times, but rarely get down whilst theres a roof over my head and I know I have enough for food and warmth. Some days, yes I do want for more but I try to always be grateful for what I have.

I do, but not as often as I should. Thank you for posting this OP. It's a really nice thread.