Happy Thanksgiving, please remember to Celebrate this Whether or Not You Celebrate Thanksgiving

byTheCatherine

14.5K followers

3 weeks ago

Thanksgiving in the U.S. always seems to revolve around turkey—a bird that's honestly pretty tasteless unless you drown it in gravy—and awkward family gatherings. It's a moment to sit back and say, "Hey, life's not too bad." Supposedly, it's about gratitude, reflection, and blessings, but today, let's dig deeper.

Let's talk gratitude. Not the airy fairy, yoga-class kind but the kind that people hype up with buzzwords like "mindfulness."

Here's the thing: all this' attitude of gratitude' stuff feels like fluff to me unless you add action . Write it down, light a candle, and poof, your life changes? Please. It's as useful as wearing socks in a swimming pool. or a chocolate fireguard. People love to feel productive without actually doing much.

That's not how life works.

Gratitude isn't about jotting down how thankful you are for your pet goldfish—it's about doing something. Real gratitude is action. Whether you're giving thanks to a god, karma, or Beyonce, it's all about showing, not just saying.

Want to be grateful? Show it by doing something meaningful. If you're healthy, prove it by moving your body—lift weights, run, or at least avoid inhaling a bucket of fries every day.

Got a job? Awesome. Be grateful by building something bigger—turn that paycheck into a side hustle that gives you freedom. Do the work to make your blog successful, or start a freelancing business using the skills you have learned here.

If you're grateful for your job, you could use your skills to help others or start a passion project.

If you don't have those skills yet, upgrade to Premium Plus.

If you're married to someone who hasn't yet driven you to therapy, cherish that and, you know, actually be nice to them. Plan a surprise date or do something special for your partner.

Someone once said, "Gratitude is thankfulness in action." Too many people have claimed that saying. If you're sitting there with blessings piling up, the only way to show appreciation is by using them wisely. Multiply what you have. Prove you deserve it, or it might just disappear.

Life has a funny way of snatching things back when you don't respect them. Gratitude in action means not just acknowledging your blessings but actively using them to improve your life and the lives of others. It's about making the most of what you have, not just for your own benefit but for the benefit of those around you.

"be the change you want to see in the World," Mahatma Gandhi. I'm not a great Ghandi fan (too many pictures of being accompanied by scantily clad {by Indian standards at the time }nubile young ladies for me), but hey, he nailed that one.

There's an Indian saying,

"Work is worship."

That makes sense, right? Even the Bible gets in on this vibration:

"To those who have, more will be given."

This is just a fancy way of saying, "If you've got good stuff, better make good use of it—or else." You can't gratitude journal your way to abundance. Gratitude journaling is a great way to reflect on your blessings and cultivate a positive mindset, but it's not enough. Do I do it? Yes, I do. You need to INNERSTAND that you put that gratitude into action. You grind, you grow, and then you've got something to celebrate.

Start doing. Not dreaming.

Action is tough. Gratitude journaling? Easy. That's why most people stick to the latter while their lives quietly fall apart. Then they try doubling down on the same nonsense. More lists, more affirmations. It's like pouring water into a bucket with a massive hole in the bottom. Useless.

So this Thanksgiving, here's my take: By next year, I want to look back and laugh at how much I've grown—and celebrate. Whatever you do, don't forget to thank yourself for getting through the chaotic life process.

You've done the heavy lifting when nobody else either could or would. That deserves a moment of recognition, doesn't it?

Sometimes, life feels like one long, dark tunnel with no end in sight. You're alone, the walls are closing in, and the exit? Nowhere to be found. It's a bleak picture. But here's the thing: if you're still breathing, you've made it through every single storm life's thrown at you so far. That is a 100% success rate in survival. Read that again—it's no small feat.

Now, religious folks might just say it's God's blessings or divine intervention. Fair enough. But that doesn't explain how I, as an atheist, have created my dream life over fifty+ plus years. It doesn't explain how many other non believers are successful.

Even the Bible itself doubles down on the balance between grace and grit with verses like

"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." (Proverbs).

Sorry, I cant give you the full reference Translation? Just be grateful I read all the books from cover to cover before chucking them out. Faith might give you the push, but you still have to push. Faith is just that, blind faith.

We shrug off our small wins and get sidetracked by other people's Instagram-perfect lives.

At the end of the day, it's you that tips the scales. Your effort, your persistence, your choices. YOU. Yet, somehow, we rarely stop to thank ourselves. Weird, right? We shrug off our small wins and get sidetracked by other people's Instagram-perfect lives. and beat ourselves up for not being like "that person." You know the one—always smiling, always thriving, always one filter away from being nauseatingly perfect. Or so I am told. I have never been on Instagram, and hopefully, I will never be.

OKAY, don't get me started on the circus, which is social media. People bend over backward to be liked, saying just the right things and doing the right thing. Not because they believe it, but because they're addicted to EXTERNAL validation. It's a performance, and they lose themselves in it. The more they try to please others, the more hollow they feel. You put everyone else on a pedestal, and you're left staring at the dirt.

Here's the truth: none of it matters if you're unhappy with yourself. The applause, the likes, the "you're amazing" comments—they can't fill a PERPETUALLY empty cup.

I see it all the time here. People start things—building a business, losing weight, chasing dreams—but they trip up, stop halfway, and then beat themselves up. They call themselves lazy, inconsistent, and hopeless. It's brutal. But let's zoom out for a second.

You would never ever, ever, subject your loved ones to the criticism you heap on yourself.

You tried. You tried.

Do you know how many people never even get that far? If you made it halfway to a goal before slipping, think about where you'd be if you hadn't tried at all. That weight you lost before gaining some back? Without trying, you might've been hauling around double by now. Like, "Half of you is still stuck in last year," which is kind of heavy. See what I mean? Even partial progress is progress.

Or take the business thing. Maybe you haven't cracked the code yet, but you've been learning, haven't you? Watching videos, reading articles, soaking up knowledge—that's the groundwork. It's there, waiting to be built on. None of it is ever wasted.

What holds most people back isn't a lack of ability or smartness. It's the mental loops. The doubts. The fear of failure. Those are the real obstacles. You'll see the momentum shift once you break free of those patterns. And when it does? Watch out.

But let me tell you what won't work: tying your worth to your results. I hate hustle culture for this exact reason. You know the type—the guy who wakes up at 5 a.m. and needs everyone to know about it. Or the one who posts a blurry pic of his alarm clock because "#GrindNeverStops."

BS. BS BS

Before you can blink, someone is bragging about not sleeping since Carter was president. This is absolutely ludicrous, and it makes people feel like they're falling behind when they're actually doing fine.

Don't fall for it. Those highlight reels are just that—highlights. Meanwhile, your life is the whole movie. And it's worth watching, even the messy parts.

This Thanksgiving, try something different. Take 30 minutes to reflect—not on what you're lacking, but on how far you've come. Grab your phone, open a note, and start listing your wins: big ones, small ones, ALL OF THEM. Include your losses, too—because getting through those? That's winning. Every mistake, every heartbreak, every time you wanted to quit but didn't—those are trophies in their own right.

And when you're done, don't forget to thank the person who carried you through it all: you. You're the common denominator in every victory. You've been your own rock, whether you realize it or not.

Yes, other people matter. You'll need their help, their kindness, their support. But nobody's showing up for you until you show up for you. Even asking for help is an act of self-respect. So, really, it all starts—and ends—with you.

This Thanksgiving, take a moment. Look back on your life and say, "Thank you, self, for getting me here. Now, let's go the rest of the way." Be grateful for who you are, what you've done, and having your own back. Because, let's face it, nobody else could've done it quite like you.

Now, this last paragraph is the only bit of this article I am writing myself. So, I am going to say thank you to AI by getting some work done. It may not be perfect, it will be messy, but it is done!

Totally Written by AI, apart from the last paragraph, which is 100 percent me. However, it all sounds 100 percent me

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