This Thanksgiving is a little bit different than the ones I’ve had in the past years. The few months have been the hardest, I won’t lie about that. I have been adjusting living on my own (I moved closer to my school) while starting my new job but it still doesn’t feel like home. As I’ve mentioned before in Reasons to Go Road Trip in Arizona, my family was planning to move to Arizona and I dropped them off to the airport from the beginning of this month. I still haven’t been living even a month on my own but this Thanksgiving, my family and I won’t be getting together and I won’t be coming home like the rest of college students do. I may have to fly sometime across the country just to be with them like others don’t have to.
Despite the hard times that came by, I am determined to keep my head up and be able to embrace the times I got to cherish having a family and a real home life. A lot of people tell me how they would like to live on their own but I prefer that I didn’t. As I always believed, life is damn short. I loved making memories and feeling comfortable in the company of my parents. But I know that this happens to most people. Most people, at one point in their lives, will learn how it’s like being alone and finding their way on their own especially moving to a new city. You’re even more lucky if you have a partner that you can experience that with. I do give credit to my past experiences for preparing me for this though. I feel like that’s where traveling and having all my spontaneous adventures set me up for… it helped me to be resourceful. It helped me to open up my eyes more than I already have them widen. It helped me to grow and continue wanting to grow.
Even when I was dealing with problems on my own, I know my parents are a phone call away but I loved it more when they physically showed me how something worked or can be fixed. I feel like a lot of times, we don’t stop and think about those things. We can often take things for granted but I would rather have a stupid argument on something with my parents than panicking with “what I should do?!” I believe that it scares us more from not being able to be comfortable with the uncomfortable but I challenge you guys to try it.
So, for this year, what am I thankful for? This may sound cliche but I am thankful for… life. Life is everywhere around us and life is constantly changing. Life will always have its ups and downs but life is inevitable. I am thankful for being able to walk this Earth and to witness whatever it is that life wants to show me or that I find. I love the sense of freedom that I can get in whatever way I can feel (the safe type of freedom, of course). I am really moved by life and I want to see more of it. Not many people feel the gratitude towards themselves and be able to thank that they are still well and in existence. But appreciation towards loving yourself and loving the little things gets you further than you think it will. Just like how I always tell myself and others, “you are stronger than you think you are”, because that IS the truth.
What are you thankful for? Oh, and have a happy and memorable Thanksgiving everyone!
