“…because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude” Wallace Wattles
This week, as we celebrated Veteran’s Day and firmly launch into the Thanksgiving Holiday Season, we saw constant messages of gratefulness. My view on gratefulness is a bit different in that I believe gratefulness should be a cornerstone in every aspect of our lives- daily. I think that gratefulness is the foundation of all character. We live in a country with abundance and have many reasons to be grateful. Gratefulness should not be relegated to a day, one group or even a season. It should be constant. A reminder to ourselves for the good things and an appreciation of those who have helped us along our journey in life. Here is a countdown of my 5 reasons to be thankful and grateful.
5 Reasons to Be Grateful:
#5 – We live in America.
Despite any of her problems, America is still the greatest land of potential opportunity in the world. Since our earliest pioneer days, America has been at the forefront of innovation and exploration. Whether it is space, Mars or even finding the unknown restaurant that has the best eggs benedict and espresso you ever had- we are built to live life as an adventure. Entrepreneurship levels the playing field. Anyone can become someone. Anyone with an idea, a solid work ethic, and gumption (my wife taught me that word, she’s from Alabama, need I say more?) can rise to astronomic heights. Appreciating that we have unlimited potential to succeed in America means we can advance. We have jobs and careers that not only provide for our families but also allow us to have purpose and meaning in our lives. (Note: If you don’t have purpose and meaning in your current position, it might be a good time to take look at a new path)
#4 – It doesn’t snow here in Florida.
Sure, here in Florida we have the occasional hurricane and the ever-present danger of alligators biting us, boas constricting us, and tourist bumping into us, however it doesn’t snow here. Work can be taxing, but have you ever lived in a place where it snowed so much you had to shovel your driveway every morning? Like what? You literally have to work just to go to a place where you can work and that seems like a bad deal to me. No, no thank you. Nice to look at snow on TV and the occasional vacation, but give me the beach weather for 12 months out of the year.
#3 – Football
We should all be grateful that this is a football state whether it’s the Miami Dolphins, The Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or (my preference is college) The Florida Gators, Miami Hurricanes, Florida State Seminoles or UCF Golden Knights as there’s always someone who you can root for or cheer against. I have lived in places around the world when I talk about football they thought I meant soccer. In other places, the idea of football or contact sports for fun is nonexistent. I do not know how you are supposed to fully enjoy an ice-cold beer and chicken wings if there is not football.
#2 – Random Acts of Kindness
I go to Subway at least 3 times a week (and sometimes more). I was there waiting in line to get my usual lunch item and some high school kids came in. This little old lady in front of me discretely gave the cashier a hundred-dollar bill and whispered- “this should take care of the students- let them spend their money on more fun things than lunch and then keep the change” The little old lady left without a word. The kids all ordered and were flabbergasted that someone had paid for all of their lunches. They thought it was me and I said, “Nope, it was the older lady who just left.” She did it without asking for recognition or social media fame or anything else. It put me in a great mood the rest of the day and got me thinking- what can I do for someone else? Random acts of kindness reminds me there are people who are good for the sake of being good, for no external reward for their goodness. I’m thankful for that. It makes me want to be better than I naturally am.
#1 – Family
The most important thing that we can all be grateful for is the support and love of our family. Sometimes, family isn’t necessarily those people that are blood related to us. Family means people that you can count on that believe in you, inspire you that push you to be the best version of yourself possible. I spent Holidays in the past away from family and it makes me appreciate them now more than ever before. I always want to be the home where boys come home to for the holidays. I believe in small traditions like carving the Turkey, while singing songs or putting up Christmas lights together- whatever “it” is, it’s just better with family is my take here.
This post about gratefulness in no way means to say that bad things don’t happen. That’s a certainty that if you live long enough you will have crappy things happen. Sometimes we counter these bad experiences, by seeing people worse off and we try to be grateful by recognizing it could be worse and we should be thankful not being in their situation. (Empathy and gratefulness are intertwined.) My friend and I were complaining the other day about something and I stopped in the middle of our conversation and said “You know what…,people would kill for our kinds of problems.” Point is, we all have it pretty darn good in this country of ours but what is even better than this fact, is that we have the opportunity to always improve our situation with a little bit of hard work and that my friends, gives us hope for a better tomorrow and for all the tomorrow’s yet to come.
Bringing It All Together
I am grateful for every one of you for trusting me and my company. You trust us to work with you and help people by finding them roles with purpose, meaning and value. I am grateful that along with you, we can make a difference. I am grateful to the people who come to us looking for work. Out of all the companies they could have chosen, they chose us. I am grateful and honored they did. I challenge you to go a week without complaining and seeing if you can instead look through the prism of gratefulness. Start a gratefulness journal and write down the things you are grateful for each day. At the dinner table, ask each other what happened that day that they are grateful for. My answer will always include YOU!
Until Next Time,
Your Staffing Partner, Darrin Rohr- President, CEO and Chief Servant
Current owner of HH Staffing and Former Chief HR Officer for several successful Multinational Fortune 500 Companies. Brings fresh perspective from decades of experiences creating Great Workplace Cultures by building high performance teams while leading and managing people from all different backgrounds. HH Staffing is headquartered in Sarasota, Florida and is uniquely positioned to serve both local and national clients.
