IT’S THE SMALL THINGS
Alex Eduque
I write this on Thanksgiving Thursday. To say that 2020 has been a year like no other would be a total understatement. Redundant even if you will as I personally feel I myself have said it many times over in this column alone. Yet, in the spirit of Thanksgiving and as Christmas draws near, despite the hardships and the challenges that the year has brought about, I once again acknowledge my position of privilege in being able to still be grateful amidst it all. I know I am blessed, and because of that, I will always aim to be a blessing as well, albeit in the smallest of ways, in the lives of those nearest me and who need it most.
Gratitude, I have always believed, is a state of mind. It requires a certain sense of fulfillment and mental conditioning somehow to get there especially when times are tough and when things do not go your way, or as planned. If there is any year that statement holds true, it would most definitely be this one. Yet, despite the wayward way in which it has turned out for a lot of us, I have a lot to give thanks for because things still happened for me. So in the name of today, here are 20 things – big and small – I am grateful for, and that 2020 has taught me to appreciate and cherish most. In no particular order:
- For my sheer existence and being alive. And that as well of my nearest and dearest, family and friends.
- For my health, and the invisible, yet powerful cloak of protection I know God has placed over me and my family.
- For my faith strengthening even more. Prayer has always played a big role in my life, but this year, its role has transformed from simply “ask and answered” to one that guides and simply gives comfort – prayer provided for me the resilience and the strength to surrender to whatever God’s greater plan is.
- For being able to get married, and start a new chapter even in the midst of a pandemic. Truly, love wins.
- For being able to live under a strong roof and behind sturdy walls.
- For quality time spent with my loved ones, and for their love that has seen me through.
- For true and real friends – who came and shone through most especially in this transformative and trying year. They who have proven that it is possible for bonds to strengthen in the absence of physically being together.
- For technology and being able to be in a position to afford and use it. I reckon that it is a privilege these days to be able to stay connected.
- To be able to be grateful and to find happiness in an unprecedented time, that is even more bleak for others.
- To be in a position to help out.
- For the food on my table.
- For our house help – our second family who have sacrificed time with their own to be with us and make our lives more comfortable. They who have tirelessly served and been with us at the expense of their own. They are truly the gifts that keep on giving.
- To be loved, to feel that love, and for the capacity to love and give back that love as well.
- For my dogs – who provide an inexplicable comfort and warmth.
- For work that I love, and that allows me flexible time.
- For being able to publish a book and crossing that dream off my bucket list before I turned 30.
- For a heightened sense of awareness on what truly matters, what are extras, and what we can actually live without.
- For pockets of quiet time the usual grind and hustle and bustle deprives me of.
- For days slower than usual that allow me to wake up at my own pace and savor every moment.
- For the multitude of opportunities to continuously make a difference and help out our greater community – albeit online, and virtually for the most part.