This is the time of year when I find myself the saddest. I miss my mom more than the rest of the year. Thanksgiving was her favorite holiday and I feel her around more than other times.
It's been 11 years since her untimely death and it doesn't seem to get easier as the years roll on. Maybe the pain gets duller. I don't know. Does it matter? When you miss a loved one that is gone from this earth, I don't think any kind of justification or reasoning can make one feel better.
I know a few of my students lost people who were near and dear to them. And this makes the holidays even harder. It makes Thanksgiving in particular a time when some of us may feel that there's nothing to be thankful for. And maybe it's okay to not be thankful this year...or even the next. Sometimes you have to let yourself feel sad in order for the healing to begin.
For the rest of us, we have a lot to be thankful for even if it's for the people that we'll be sitting next to at the dinner table. The people that are still here, with us. Remember, for some, certain very close and important people are gone. If you have those loved ones still with you, even if they are a globe-distance away from you, be grateful that they're still here. With us.
I know, I know...It's easy to choose to complain about what we don't have or where we should be while making an inventory sheet of every place we've failed in life. But why do that anymore? It's zapping away all of your energy and self worth. What a waste!
Today is a reminder that we have so much to be grateful for. I know, it's become a cliche. Hasn't it? But I am prompting you to at least take a REAL moment to think about how awesome things are for you even if, by comparison, you still think your life sucks compared to others. Stop comparing your life to others. When you do that, your life suddenly can become awesome. Just like that, in one fraction of a second.
Remember, life is nothing more than perspective. That's it. Nothing more. As hard as it may be sometimes, maybe we just need to change that perspective. Even if it's for one day. Or for a couple of hours anyway.
See you at the top!
Your mentor,
Monica Main
