Menu

Nella Coiro

What are you grateful for?

What are you grateful for?

One of the most valuable things I’ve learned in 12 step recovery groups is the importance of being grateful. In my experience, maintaining a conscious level of gratitude is important for a balanced perspective and living a happy life.

Sometimes the seemingly small yet important things can be overlooked or taken for granted. For example, I’m grateful for my loved ones. a place to live, food in the refrigerator, and clothes to wear. I won’t freeze during the winter months. I won’t go hungry. I have a car for transportation. I have health insurance. (Thank God). I also have things to entertain me like a books, a TV, and musical instruments. 

Not everyone has all of the above. We are reminded of this when we see someone who is homeless and living on the street, carrying all of their possessions in a shopping cart, freezing in cold weather, wondering where their next meal is coming from. This must be frightening and depressing.

Yet, at some point in their lives, they lived somewhere, probably had a job, loved ones, and might have had what we take for granted. Then their life took a horrible turn in direction. This could happen to any one of us. Seeing this reality can be a wake-up call. Suddenly reality hits us, and we might be overwhelmed with a wave of gratitude.

I’m on dialysis, hoping to eventually receive a donor kidney. It isn’t easy to spend my retirement years getting up early, leaving the warm comfort of my bed, getting dressed, and leaving my home, to get two gigantic needs stuck into my arm, and sitting in an uncomfortable recliner for over three hours, three days a week. 

And yet… despite this, I’m still grateful for all of the reasons I mentioned above. I refuse to allow my medical issues upset my serenity. Each day I wake up is a gift. If I didn’t have dialysis, I would have died over 3 ½ years ago. So, in this sense, the opportunity to be on dialysis is also a gift — a gift of an extended life.

As a result of my dialysis journey, I’ve met some wonderful people, enjoyed some interesting conversations, grown as a person, and learned a lot about myself. In fact, I’ve written most of my memoir sitting in dialysis! 

I’ve learned in life that sometimes what might initially appear to a tragedy or a loss, was actually a gift that I was only able to appreciate and understand in hindsight. Life and adversity happens. Sometimes within the blink of an eye, things suddenly change with no forewarning. Although we have no control over external circumstances, we do have control over our perspective and our responses.

I do a lot of mindfulness and meditation exercises, and it helps me to live my life trying to focus on the here-and-now, and using the one-day-at-a-time philosophy. I usually try to take things one-day-at-a-time. On challenging days, it’s a minute at a time. And I’ve learned that nothing stays the same. As my wise father-in-law used to say, “This too shall pass.” And… gratitude helps!

 

 

 

Go Back

Comment

Search

 

 

Contact Me

Comments

There are currently no blog comments.