Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. Of course it's because of the food. Who can resist a Thanksgiving feast?! But as I've grown older, I've come to appreciate the bigger meaning behind Thanksgiving: giving thanks.
Gratitude is so important for so many reasons. Not only is it important to be grateful; it's also very important to give thanks to those around you who you're thankful for. Make your thanks known!
There are so many amazing things to be thankful for, and there are just as many ways to give thanks for those things and people and experiences you are thankful for. This year I am thankful for...
...my friends. They also just know me so well. Can we just agree that having people in our lives that just know us is so special and amazing and important?
...my education. The opportunity I have to attend college is not one that everyone gets, so I'm grateful for the chance I get.
...Her Campus. My position as Vice President and Editor-in-Chief for Her Campus Iowa has helped me grow so much as a leader. My internship with Her Campus nationals this semester has also helped me to build my writing and editing skills.
...the experiences I've had this year. Two trips to NYC; a Broadway show in the newly-refinished Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City; a chance to visit my cousins in Chicago; my first opportunity to vote in a presidential election; attending that crazy Iowa-Michigan football game a couple of weeks ago; I could go on!
Most of the time, it's people who we're thankful for or give us the things that we're thankful for. While we can earn things ourselves, there most likely have also been others who have helped us get to where we are. It's so important to thank those people who have helped us and supported us. Here are some ways we can show gratitude to those people:
- Write them a handwritten thank you note
- Do a small deed or favor for them
- Give them a small gift
- Tell other people why we're thankful for this person, whether by talking them up in person or in a post on social media
- Simply tell them thank you {and give them a big hug!}
I really love the quote I found for the title of this post, but I couldn't fit the whole thing, so here it is in it's entirety:
“In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.”Sometimes the best way to thank someone is to just tell them. We don't always have to make these grand gestures to show gratitude. Sometimes the smallest and simplest way is the best way. So sincerely thank someone for whom you are grateful during this time of giving and thanksgiving.
What are you thankful for this year? How do you show gratitude? Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Lots of love,
Sarah
Elizabeth Gilbert, "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia"