On Gratitude and Graduation

You know that saying “You never know what you have until it’s gone”.

Well since I am currently graduating high school, I am, indeed just now realizing what amazing people I have around myself, which is actually pretty sad if you think about it that way. In the past few months I thought pretty often about how much I love my friends, but I honestly don’t really remember telling them that straightforward. Just now that we are graduating, we are sort of “saying goodbye” through different activities and graduation ceremonies, so we had more time to think about the people that surrounded us for at least four years almost every day.

I always tell people to start practicing gratitude. I, myself, made a habit of thinking every day about a few things that I feel grateful for. Some days they are big, some small. Sometimes I feel like being grateful for a dessert I ate, sometimes for my health, for music, for my parents, for a hot bath and other times for a coffee or the good weather. The fact that you just take a moment out of your day for that, leaves you with a very nice and wholesome feeling. In time, you start making a habit out of it and you find yourself, even on a bad day, being able to make yourself feel a little bit better.

Now, coming back to graduation, there are a few questions that I asked myself in the past few days. Why do we always have to wait until the last moment to tell people what they mean to us? Or that we love and appreciate them? Or to thank them? In the past few days it kinda came to us, that we are really finishing school, considering the fact that some of us have known each other for as long as 15 years (starting from kindergarten until now). That’s huge. We literally grew up together. Those are the people that have been with you through important moment of your life and some of them became family.

Soo, I read about something really cute recently that I’d like to share with you all. It’s called “Gratitude letter/visit”. This is proven by research to have a huge positive impact on your happiness and that of another person. It’s just writing a letter of gratitude for someone you care about (might as well be more people if you can’t decide). Think of one living person who has made a big difference in your life, but whom you never properly thanked. Then find a spot when you have about half-hour free and write a heartfelt and sincere letter to that person explaining how he or she has impacted your life and why he or she is meaningful to you. Then you should deliver the letter personally. For an extra huge happiness boost, it is recommended to meet up with that person and read the letter aloud. I know at this point some of you would want to stop reading and give up this idea entirely. But try it. You can start with someone you’re very comfortable with, so that you won’t feel awkward. I, personally, have a few people in mind, not only one, so you can see what fits best for you. I really recommend you do this, not just if you are graduating. A gratitude letter is one of the most powerful tools for increasing happiness, because it can forge social bonds and really change someone’s life.

To learn more about gratitude, check out this free online talk: Robert Emmons - The Power of Gratitude (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLjVOvZufNM)