Grateful To Be Where I Am

by Stef Cheneby, grateful at 43

I look back at 43 years and I think, "Oh my god! I am so grateful to be where I am, and this is the result of all the experiences I have lived through.” The good ones and the bad ones. The pleasant ones and the painful ones. The laughter and the tears. The birth and the death. The joys and the fears.

I have finally manifested many experiences I thought would only be for others when I started believing in myself and realizing I could not change the present, but I could change my future.

I changed my mindset from what else could go wrong to what else could go perfectly.

I am grateful for all my friends, for they make every moment even more enjoyable.

I am grateful for those who tried to hurt me, for they succeeded in making me stronger and more powerful.

I am grateful for the latest discovery: I look in my backup hard drives for a beautiful photo of a butterfly I took years ago, and I discover the folder with all my photos is gone. 43 years of photos of me are gone. The folders for Mom, Dad, Rico, my daughter, Chloe, my dog, Braun, and many more are still there. So I decided to be grateful for what I have instead of whining about what I lost.

I decided to be grateful and see it as a gift from the Universe. I have nowhere to look back so I can only look forward.