Thanksgiving is quite possibly my favorite holiday of the year. If the interstate traffic is any indication, people are well on their way towards their Thanksgiving activities. While we’re bumper to bumper today, tomorrow gives us reprieve from everyday struggles. Thanksgiving is the time of year where all of the admittedly difficult, bad, and unjust things are consciously put aside as we focus on the Good.
It’s easy to lose ourselves in the everyday shuffle of life and lose perspective. Homecare can be a difficult journey, and often one we seemingly face alone. We brave the edges of the map, wondering what to do next or if we can give enough. It’s easy to be consumed by the trails and hurdles. However, I think back to a lesson I learned in high school that transformed the way I view the world.
I was feeling overcome by the frustrations and hopelessness that many young teenagers face during those formative years. Why is everything against me? Why is it so hard? You know the all-too-familiar story. In walked a dear friend and, seeing my exasperated state, offered some advice. He told me to spend the next minute looking intently around the room and identify everything green–that I would have to close my eyes and recount as many objects as possible. I spent the next 60 seconds finding the green pen, lime-green stickynote, the choppy blades of grass on the sunflowers border wallpapered around the room, and countless other green things. I had a long list, one that I was committing to memory. However, when it was time to close my eyes, he asked me to recall the things that were pink. Pink? I stumbled through a few things I figured would have pink on them, but my list fell short. He then began to list all of the pink items I had overlooked in my adamant search for green. Pink was sprinkled all around, but I had been so focused elsewhere that I didn’t even see it.
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Isn’t this how it is in life?
Sometimes we find ourselves in a green room, and the green seems overwhelming. Mounting medical bills. Caregiving and managing a full-time job. A terminal diagnosis. But the truth is that no matter how evident the green is, there is always some pink if we condition ourselves to search for it.
This Thursday, I hope that you will take pause from the hustle-bustle of life and search your world for pink. Perhaps it’s the big stuff: loved ones, health, shelter. But I bet it’s in the little things too. These are the things that get taken for granted and overlooked as we hurry through life. Maybe it’s the sun glistening through the fragrant blooms of your neighbor’s rose bush. Or perhaps it’s the way your favorite chair feels as you collapse into it at the end of a long day. Good is everywhere. It’s in your climate controlled house, your computer that enables us to communicate digitally, the very fact that you can read. It’s the freedom to strive for greatness in every day, and the satisfaction that you do work that matters as we care for our elderly and disabled loved ones.
We have so much to be grateful for.
In past blog posts, we’ve covered ways you can Be The Good in the world and even jump-started a list of 45 things our readers can be thankful for as they reflect on their homecare journey. Where is the pink in your life?
Know this: we are so incredibly thankful for you. It is an honor to serve a community so dedicated to the wellbeing of their loved ones, and we are grateful for the opportunity to support you as you stand on the front lines of homecare.
May you enjoy the holiday with your families and loved ones and find the Good that surrounds you.
::awp::
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” -Roald Dahl
