Ending the year with gratitude

As the curtains fall over yet another year, it’s time to retrospect the year that it has been. A lot of things happened this year, lots of firsts, lots of action and events. It’s appropriate then, to end this year 2024 with a sense of gratitude. Not just for the good things that have happened; also, for the bad things that haven’t happened. Many other good things didn’t happen, for sure, but then many other bad things didn’t happen too.

What is this “gratitude” that everyone talks about anyways? A quick google search (yeah, an old timer, I still love using this search engine) and I found this fantastic, yet a very simple definition courtesy: https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/gratitude.html

Gratitude is when you feel thankful for the good things in your life. This could be stuff people often take for granted, like having a place to live, food, clean water, friends, and family. Gratitude is taking a moment to reflect on how lucky you are when something good happens, whether it’s small or big.

This morning my cousin shared me an article where the author talks about how Indians must feel lucky to be living in a relatively peaceful side of the world, unlike many others living in war torn zones. We have our own set of problems, but then there are some positives too. Living in a relatively peaceful zone, having a roof above our head and ability to feed ourselves and families is already a good enough reason to be grateful. Yeah, I know the bar is quite low, but then when we take a look at homeless, war-torn and hunger-stricken people around us and the world, we will surely appreciate the “luxurious” life that we are living. Whatever we build on top of this, well, they are extra bonuses.

How did we do in this year 2024? What moments did we enjoy and cherish? What success did we have this year? Personally, I extended my running spree to a consistent twice a week 5k runs, with 10k runs peppered around. I also managed to run one 20K trail. I was able to buy a very nice car and take my family on a nice vacation. I met a lot of friends and family over the course of this year and had great fun together. We paid a visit to Thirumala Venkataramana at Tirupati for the first time ever. We enjoyed fantastic moments at our cousin’s weddings and other festivals. I also read plenty of books and published many blogs this year. OfCourse, there was scope for more – More reading, more writing, more investments, more travel, more catchups and more celebrations. But then, I would take my yearly “report card” gleefully. I am so grateful for all these good things that happened to me this year.

Normally what I do at the start of every year (I have been doing this for 2 years now) is to list down the major Todo’s that I would like to be able to do in the coming year. For example, I would like to invest X amount into equity, do X kms run on a weekly/monthly basis, read X books this year, write X blogs, Travel plans, weddings and celebrations, etc. At the end of the year, I tally them. For the year 2024, I have fairly achieved what I set to achieve, and this adds up to my immense sense of gratitude for the year that it has been.

What I have also realized is that there could have been several things that might not have gone my way. Maybe our travel plans could have got jeopardized due to health or financial reasons. Maybe my legs wouldn’t take any more running. Maybe we met some accident during our long drives. Maybe I lost big time on some equity investments. I know, these are all negative thoughts, but what if those happened. Whenever I drive to office, or any long drives, I see cars stopped due to breakdown or minor accidents. These days, I just thank my stars that I am not in their position – running into arguments, fights, chaos. Lots of cities got flooded this year, but thankfully in Bangalore it was just rains for few days, nothing severe. I am now more grateful for all those “bad” things that could have, but didn’t happen to me.

Let’s be grateful for a wonderful year this 2024 was, and hope for an even better next year 2025. Someone told me that 2025 will be quite punishing for people not taking care of their health. So, please do take good care of your health – do the daily walking/meditation/yoga/sports, whatever you can to enjoy another fantastic year. I wish you all a very happy new year, full of health and prosperity.