Food. Roof over your head. A place to sleep. Family. Shouldn’t that be enough for us? Have you ever stopped to admire what you have?

“I wish I had my own room.”

“I wish my parents got me that X-Box.”

“I wish my mom didn’t serve me meatloaf for the third time this week.”

Life never slows down and for many of us, we are barely staying afloat. Our minds are overwhelmed by never-ending worrying and feelings. During our endless struggles, it’s difficult for us to stop and appreciate what’s around us. It is in our human nature to shift our thoughts towards what we don’t have rather than what we do have. It’s an inevitable fact, and something we can’t control. As the struggles are crawling under our skin and we begin to drown in our endless thoughts and worries, stop and try to find things to be thankful for. Being grateful and appreciative is our life-jacket out of the depths of our thoughts.

Think small and look around your home for things to be appreciative of; it doesn’t have to be huge. Give thanks for the fact that you have clean bed to go home to and access to fresh food. Give thanks for the fact that you are healthy and have a roof over your head. Take time out of your day to be thankful for what you do have instead of worrying about what you don’t have. We take everything for granted and don’t truly appreciate the little things.

My selfish ways of not being gracious of what I’ve been given leaves me emphasizing for the Japanese American families in They Called Us Enemy.

Reading about the hardships the Takei family had to go through in Japanese-American internment camps makes me realize that I need to take a step back from the crazy antics of my life and just appreciate everything. Appreciate that I have someplace to call home that isn’t a horse stall; appreciate that my childhood was spent running around in playgrounds instead of running between barbed wires.

We are so used to these luxuries our parents have that we don’t realize how truly blessed we are. The daily changes in our lives and the world constantly spinning around us makes us forget the little things. We focus so much on the huge problems in our life that we forget to take a step back and merely appreciate what we have. Instead of wishing about what we don’t have, appreciate what we do have:

“I’m thankful I have a room.”

“I’m thankful I can ask for expensive items from my parents.”

“I’m thankful my mom is able to put food on the table for me and my family.”