“I’m Blessed, My Friend”
How my new coworker’s default reply when asked how she’s doing changed my outlook on life.
I started a new job about a month ago. Let’s just say it isn’t my dream job. I love the company and I love the mission and the reason we do what we do but saying it has been fun would be a lie.
I work in an office from sun up to sun down, with mandatory overtime a regular thing and my job is mainly to disappoint people.
Every morning, five days a week, my team walks into that building.
We exchange pleasantries, the normal “how are ya?” and the normal complaining about how early it is or how our kids didn’t want to get up this morning or traffic was awful.
But my one coworker always just says, “I’m blessed, my friend.”
The first few times I heard her say it, it was jarring. How could someone be so goddamn positive at 7am? And again at noon. And again at 6 pm when we were finally leaving for the day.
I thought maybe she was delusional.
I thought maybe she was being sarcastic.
I thought a lot of things. Mainly that it was not possible for someone to just truly feel blessed every single day.
Over the last month, I’ve tried to get to know this person… this anomaly of the human race where we are all usually so quick to whine and moan about how hard it is to be a human being.
If I’m being honest, I think a part of me wanted to find holes in her happiness to make myself feel better.
While I did find holes in the happy exterior, what I found which is more important is that this person has suffered. As we’ve grown closer, I’ve found that she has been through more than the ordinary person.
She’s been through some similar things to me.
But while I have used those things as an excuse, a reason why I’m so quick to believe that the world is a bad place where bad things just happen for no reason, an excuse for closing myself off to the world, she has used those things to focus on the light in the world.
I am self-deprecating to an almost disgusting level. I never noticed it before, but she calls me on it every time.
I complain constantly, and every time, she puts things into perspective for me.
And through this interaction with her, I’ve become more grateful.
I used to go through phases where I’d recognize that I complained too much and I would try to just stop complaining but I never really was able to make it stick because I didn’t get to the root of why I was doing it and fix that.
It’s not enough to just stop complaining. I’ve learned that I also have to change my thinking so that I realize that there really isn’t anything that important to complain about.
I’ve realized that the key is to always focus on finding the light.
Sure, traffic sucked and I had to work a really long day at a job I don’t love. But framing is everything. I was lucky enough to have a car that is reliable to get myself to work, where I am able to be a piece of the giant machine that works towards helping people, and I get to earn the money that supports myself and my child.
It isn’t about never having anything bad happen to you, it’s just about not focusing on those things.
It’s about finding the good.
I’m not about to tell anyone that they need to write down three things they’re grateful for every day.
I’m not going to sit here and say that this has fixed my outlook on life entirely.
I still have crummy days where it is difficult to see anything good.
But my challenge to you is to just change the way you frame things in your mind and just focus on the good when it happens. Even if it’s just that the sky was blue and the sun was shining while you’re entire life felt like it was falling apart.
I’m blessed, my friend. And so are you.
“I’m Blessed, My Friend”
Research & References of “I’m Blessed, My Friend”|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments