a fifo wife {fifo life: how to: being thankful}

Over the weekend I found myself basking in the glory of family and friends. We don’t all get along in fact we bicker and collide. But despite this we laugh and we have come to be thankful for each other. We have all come to understand that our circumstance have made us who we are. We cannot change any of that just be thankful that we have each other and we are here alive and well. So whilst sadness brought us together this past weekend we had a thanksgiving of sorts. We rejoiced in the comfort of memories and there was very little time to be sad we had much to be thankful for, Aunty Sue had given us far too much to be thankful for. And I understand Thanksgiving was last month and it’s an American tradition but the tradition of gathering your friends and family around you to give thanks to them for being in your life is just the most beautiful idea and one I wish that we would adopt here. It’s the one day of the year when people stop to be thankful; to be grateful for what they have but research has shown by practising it everyday not just the third Thursday in November it can do so much more.

Being grateful and thankful for what you have not what you want can do amazing things. Not to get all moonshine and zen on you and I could never go as far as a gratitude journal although it sounds wonderful but the practicality with three children for me is too hard but I am grateful and along with that I’m an optimist. I make a conscious effort most days to be that way, after all nobody is perfect. To think that way and see the good in most things even the bad. It affects how I look at the world, how I live my FIFO life and being grateful like positivity I believe operates on the law of attraction. I’m not saying if you put out G-ma’s rubbish bin that you’re going to win lotto but maybe when you get that next speeding ticket he will only clock you at 15 kilometres over the speed limit instead of 20. Being grateful improves your relationships all over. Tell your husband you really appreciate him working so hard that you’re grateful for him, his efforts and his ability to provide for you and he may just give you some extra loving. Tell your butcher he has great meat and say thanks for that and he could just give you an extra pound or just take the fat off either way be grateful for being able to afford that meat some people can’t. Tell your kids thank you for being good kids and they will be even more so.

Being thankful teaches you the lessons in life. Often it will show you ways around all those obstacles. It teaches you to look for your next step. How to behave and how to react. After all every cloud has a silver lining. Cliché I know but it does. Sometimes you need to look for it and if you can’t find it then you haven’t really learnt from it and you will more than likely do it again but I truly believe everything happens for a reason. Weather to give you something or teach you something be grateful for the lesson learnt so you don’t do it again.

Then there is the health benefits of being grateful. Gratefulness is linked with optimism and with that comes better health. Your heart is healthier. You sleep better. Studies reported in Psychology today found that when people spent 15 minutes jotting down what they’re grateful for in a journal before bedtime, they fell asleep faster and stayed asleep longer. The University of Utah recently did a comparison study and saw that stressed-out law students who were optimistic had more immune-boosting blood cells than people who were pessimistic. Being grateful helps you to deal with negative and stressful emotions. Children that are grateful are happier and their grades are better.

They (the experts) say the best way to practice gratitude is to think of five things and either right them down or make a mental note and be grateful for them. See the good in what you already have not what you want. It’s that simple. Appreciate those little things. Appreciate having two good working legs they may not look as good as you want them to but some people have non at all. Appreciate the roof over your a head some don’t have or can afford one. Be grateful for your job a crappy job but a job non the less. Be joyous for the health of your children some battle everyday for a well child. Then be thankful to someone. Thank them for their hard work, for their care and appreciation. Try to think that way to start each day that way each and every day and soon it will be habit.

So today despite my annoying start to the day which I must say was due to my very poor attitude to the world I have been putting on my gratitude hat on and am being grateful and thankful for a whole bunch of things.

I am thankful for my children and the love an acceptance they give me even when I am crazy cranky because they left the milk out which means two things one I need to teach them they must put it back in the fridge and two perhaps I depend on coffee a little too much.

I am thankful for the love of my husband without him I wouldn’t be where I am today. He takes me as I am. Big bum, mullet cut and all.

I am thankful for my good health of myself and my family.

I am thankful for the loads of washing it means my house was full.

I am thankful for what lessons my life has taught me. The good and the very bad. It has led me here and made me she.

I am thankful for who ever discovered liquorice, chocolate and who ever created caramelised pork belly. It has made me happy and given me the big bum that my husband enjoys sniggering about. It also means I can afford to eat.

I am thankful for you. For the FIFO wife community and just plain old community for that fact. I know I say it all the time but I am grateful for you. For you taking the time to sit and be with me.

Being grateful, thankful and positive is a choice and it’s a habit. It’s a way of looking at the world.

So tell me what are you grateful for?

xx Deb