An opportunity to be grateful

Published 13 days ago • 1 min read

Hey Reader!

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends! 🦃

For all of us, let's use the spirit of thanksgiving to reflect and be grateful.

IT is a difficult industry, plain and simple.

The thing we can sometimes lose sight of is that 99% of the world would trade you places in a heartbeat for their circumstances.

No matter how challenging your week, you're in the Goldilocks zone of winning in life simply because you are reading this email.

Be thankful, be grateful.

Life will inevitably be challenging, but you will manage through it, like you always do.

...

The longer version, if I still have your attention. 😀

When my second daughter was born, I took a paternal leave of absence for 6 months to live in Germany and be close to my wife's family.

This created some setbacks for me professionally, and that was hard.

It was also an incredible opportunity for my family and me. I'm grateful for the things we all took from the experience.

The thing that was the most impactful for me was akin to the Stoic practice of voluntary poverty.

Don't get me wrong, we lived a comfortable life, but logistically, we had nothing. We put all our things in storage and left with a few bags.
We bought a simple station wagon to get around and lived in a suite in my in-laws' house.

It was incredible how quickly you adapted when you didn't have the creature comforts of home. The experience made me much less fearful of going broke and having nothing.
Even in the face of such a massive change to my lifestyle, we were fine.

This is the simple act of gratitude and having perspective on how little we actually need to be happy.
What experience has taught you the most about gratitude?

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