Ever year around Thanksgiving, I tell myself that I am going to start trying to be more thankful throughout the year, not just on the fourth Thursday in November. Being thankful can be difficult, especially since we tend to focus on things that we wish were different in our lives.

If we take a step back and look at the big picture, the reality is that most of us live wonderful lives. Our basic physical needs are met on a regular basis. We have family, friends and jobs that we enjoy. We have homes, cars, clothes and more stuff than we know what to do with. Yet somehow we manage to forget to be thankful for what we have and end up focusing on what we feel like we lack.

Just like most who are reading this, I have many things in my life to be thankful for. While I could write a book on the things, places and people that I am thankful for, here are just a few that I would like to reflect on.

I am thankful for my family. I would not be where I am today without their love, support and guidance. I am thankful for my Mom, who teaches me how to budget, plan, and not take life so seriously all the time. I am thankful for my Dad, who can help me solve any problem and teaches me to enjoy the adventure of life. I am thankful for my brother, who keeps me grounded and up to date on the latest fads. I am thankful not only for my immediate family, but also my extended family. Spending quality time with my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents is something that I will always treasure and be thankful for.

I am thankful for my friends. Over the years, I have been blessed with the most incredible friends from school, dance and other areas of my life. I have been blessed with so many people to share life, laughter, stress, late nights and early mornings with me. I am thankful for people who I can let down my guard and be myself around, for people who energize me rather than drain me. As an introvert, being around people who restore my energy feels like the most wonderful gift. I am thankful for the experience of friendship, for being able to be your true self and enjoy life alongside others.

I am thankful for my physical health. My health is something that I take for granted all the time, but I make a conscious effort to be thankful for it as often as I remember. For most of us, the most amazing thing about our bodies is that they can stay relatively healthy despite many undermining factors. Our lungs breathe, our hearts beat, our blood pumps and our brains keep everything in check, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Since exercising brings me so much joy and energy every single day, I an incredibly thankful that I have strength, health and vitality.

I am thankful for my education and the opportunity I had to attend an excellent public university. At the University of Washington, the things that I learned, the people I met and the experiences that I had were essential in shaping the person that I am today. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I am thankful that I failed organic chemistry. If I hadn’t failed, I never would have relented and changed to the major I should have been studying for in the first place, which was English. After changing my major, I was so much happier and fulfilled. Because of that failure, my entire outlook on life was changed. My time at UW was an amazing ride for all four years, and for that I am very thankful.

I am thankful for my new job, even though it’s really difficult right now. I trust that God opened this door for a reason and that eventually it will become clear that I am in the place where I am supposed to be. I am thankful for my co-workers, who have showed me nothing but kindness and grace, despite my constant mistakes, failures and questions. I hope that soon I will be able to reciprocate the kindness and grace they have shown to me by becoming excellent in my role.

I am thankful for all the church communities that I have been a part of over the years. I am thankful for how we can carry one another’s burdens, for how we share joys and laughter as well as tears and sorrow. I am thankful for people that you can be open and honest with, for people that you can tell how you are really doing at the end of the week. I am thankful for having been part of so many communities where I can find people that share my values and goals in life.

Most importantly, I am thankful for God and for His son, Jesus. I am thankful for the countless ways I have seen Him work in my life. I am thankful for the way He has crossed my path in life with the paths of so many others, both those who believe in Him and those who do not. While I tend to dwell on my failures, I am thankful that God keeps no record of my wrongs and that he casts my sin as far as east is from the west. When I find it difficult to love myself and even more difficult to love others, I am thankful that God is the ultimate example of love, the one that I can look to when I feel weak. I am thankful for the countless blessings that God has poured out on my life and trust that He will continue providing me with opportunities for thanksgiving.