Gratitude or Contempt: your choice

In a world and culture that is constantly trying to get you to feel FOMO so you buy the next product, online course, or just follow someones socials; it’s easy to feel like you’re lacking the next best thing to make your life complete. 

            Literally, just a couple of weeks ago I got hooked on following this super buff guy on Social media who goes by the name “Liverking”. His persona is all about living the ancestorial way… And his most noteworthy attribute is that he eats raw meat. He also does a lot of other things that I find fascinating, like very limited screen time, major family time throughout the day, he never wears a shirt, and a lot of other things I actually like lol. 

            But I’ve started to chuckle to myself a few times when I think about how following him has even given me some sort of FOMO, and I love my meat cooked at a warm 150 degrees before I eat it. You know what I mean though, you can think of someone or something that easily makes you feel like you’re lacking. Often that feeling of fomo, or lack, leads to a feeling of contempt and I am convinced it’s almost impossible for gratitude and contempt to share a room together in the real estate of your mind. 

            For me, the best antidote to this, is not to shut off all outside access to the world and pretend that there aren’t things that interest you. Rather, when you begin to have these thoughts that you don’t have enough or you’re not enough, stop them in their tracks, and zoom in on your life. Think about some of the things you’re grateful for, the tiniest things even. Here’s an example, I’m grateful I’m breathing, that my blood is pumping through my veins unassisted, that I can facetime my parents every day and see their faces even though they’re thousands of miles away, that I can see colors, that I can taste an apple, that I have eyelids to protect my eyes, and I could go on. 

            I believe there are thousands of things you could find to be grateful for each day if you just took a second to think about it. Maybe it would work to write them down even. And make it a practice! You’ll only get good at living grateful the more you do it! 

            So instead of constantly being focused on the few big things others have in their lives, zoom in and focus on the many small things you can be grateful for in yours. Jesus was talking to his friends once and he said, “What ‘m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving.” What’s funny to me is that in both scenarios it seems you are gaining something, but one perspective is rooted in lack, while the other is rooted in gratitude. Thats where I want my focus to be!

Gratitude is just like complaining; the more you do it, the better you become!