Do you ever just have those ridiculously horrible, exhausting, frustrating, awful days? Well you are not alone. Everyone has days, weeks, sometimes months or years that test your last ounce of patience. Sometimes there are days where I hate everything I have to do. I hate getting up early for work … I hate rushing from work to school … I hate searching for parking at Cal State LA … I hate carrying a heavy bag full of books … I hate going home late and exhausted. I’m sure all of us could make our list of things that we dislike or even hate about things that go on in our lives. Here is my suggestion to you … make a different kind of list.

Make a list of things you’re thankful for. You’ve heard it in a million different places from many different people and they are right. Remembering the things in life you have to be grateful for helps put things in perspective. Now granted, sometimes life really is awful and a list isn’t necessarily going to change your circumstances but it can change your attitude about your circumstances. So often we have no control over what happens but we have control over how we react to it. Being thankful for the things we do have is a way to change your attitude about certain situations and then when your attitude is different things might not seem so bad.

This can be a regular practice or a once in a while thing. Sit down and write it out. Write it on paper or in a word document. If your family is bugging you, write down things that you appreciate about your family in spite of what is bothering you. Maybe you want to commit to writing down one general thing a day that you’re thankful for or maybe you want to make it ten things. Or you could write thank you notes to friends and family periodically to remind them how & why you appreciate them. You could write things you’re thankful for on post-its and stick them in places where you will see them to remind yourself. The point is that in the midst of whatever craziness you have going on in your life, balancing out your attitude is important. Having a grateful heart or an attitude of gratitude can make life flow a little more smoothly. So instead of making your list of everything that gets on your nerves and dwelling on that focus on the positive. If your attitude determines your latitude then being a little more thankful in life might just shift your perspective and perk up your day!