Every year I write a blog about gratitude. It’s one of my favorite topics because I believe it is a principle and a tool for success.  It’s more than a feel-good concept.  In order to move forward in your life, it’s important to see the blessings in your life and use the tools at your disposal.  This is especially true in challenging times, and boy, 2020 is uniquely challenging.

 Let’s face it, 2020 has not been the year that we imagined.  We all have had our lives disrupted by the pandemic.  I had to change the direction that I was going in.  I was working on some exciting business ventures that would have been life changing and downright fun.  I had to postpone two big family trips and a couple of trips with friends.  Yet, my life is still amazing, and I view part of the year with a smile.  I spend a lot of time watching my kids well… be kids.  I have gotten gooder with my writing.  It doesn’t hurt that my sports teams, Lakers and Dodgers, won their respective championships.  The Seahawks are on the road to the playoffs.  All in all, my life is pretty good.

 I understand and respect that many have much bigger challenges.  Some lost loved ones.  Some were hit hard by the economics.  Some still have to wear a mask twelve hours a day.

 I want to look at gratitude in a macro way and then in a micro way.

 Can you imagine if this pandemic happened just twenty years ago?  There was no Zoom, Amazon was just a bookstore, there were no food delivery apps, and technology was not what it is now.  This means that it would have been harder to work from home, have a virtual classroom, and people would not have been able to connect as easily.  Although this is a challenging time, it would have been exponentially more challenging.

 Next, in the United States we have powerful economic tools that have prevented a devastating crash in the economy.  This is the best thing that cannot be overlooked. 

 On a micro level, we should be grateful for the opportunity to reevaluate our lives.  We have the opportunity to slow down and think about what’s important.  We have the opportunity to spend time with our families, find a new show, or develop a new skill.

 There are countless people working around the clock to improve our lives.  They are working tirelessly to get our lives back to normal and even better.  Frontline workers are making sure to take of patients.  In every single industry there are people who are working to figure out how to get their industry back on track.  My buddy, Chris, has been on countless panels figuring out how to get the fitness industry on track.  In every industry there are people figuring out how to get your life back on track.  We owe a debt of gratitude to everyone working tirelessly to get our lives back to normal. 

 Gratitude is not meant to make everything okay.  It’s just meant to shift our focus from life’s difficulties to the blessings in our lives.