How Do You Look At Your Life?

Taal Drut Teentaal's Solitude by PrASanGaM

I took a cat nap earlier today and woke up with the idea that I should stop looking at my life as a commodity that's being used up. How, then, should I look at it?

Over the last several months, I've looked at my life as a game I had already lost. I am just running out the clock. Most of the time, I'm able to see that is a self-destroying attitude and a one-way road to Missouri (pronounced "Misery," get it?).

The grief books talk of counting your blessings--not as a palliative saying but as an actual task. So, here are my blessings:

1. I'm alive
2. I have many family members and close friends who love me and are pulling for me
3. I'm in really good health
4. My dog, Cinder
5. I have a good community where I belong
6. I have access to help when I need it
7. I love where I live
8. No big financial woes
9. I have a college degree in English
10. I'm self-employed
11. I'm not afraid to be alone
12. I live close enough to the city to go do fun things on occasion
13. I'm surrounded by nature
14. I'm satisfied with the possessions I have and am working on being satisfied with less
15. I'm not yet 40