SHORT WRITE-UP | GRATITUDE | MOTIVATION | SOUL MAGAZINE

Fleeting Uncertainties and Permanence of Gratitude

30-Day Gratitude Challenge

Last Saturday, I was planning for a hospital admission for my father due to a recurring illness, which required another surgery at the earliest. There was an inner conflict (with sadness) but there was also a need to be strong, calm, and smile for your loved ones to avoid breakdowns, especially my father. Now, as I type this write-up, I am again amazed at life’s uncertainties/the so-called good and bad times — Another stressful phase, gone. My father is doing better now.

Throughout the week, I was like, “This shall pass,” and it did beautifully because I had already gathered the courage to treat this as another challenge to be faced head-on and with my head held high, being grateful for so many things at my disposal.

Recurring illness, doctor’s suggestion, planning/hospitalization, surgery, agonizing wait near the OT, postop complications, recovery, and subsequent discharge — all these processes/moments leave you in misery.

I am dealing with things one day at a time, counting each precious moment of life, and living it with gratitude — gratitude because we had options for the treatment. What if there wasn’t an option? What if we did not have the means? What if I had given up on the caretaking because of mental exhaustion? Life would have been more difficult!

I clicked the below pic from the hospital (room) window earlier in the week. At that point, it seemed the sky was stoic, pleasantly stoic, because it felt nice just looking at it. A beautiful view — It was reminding me to remain calm, be grateful/be patient, that storms shall come and go, and that it is important not to get uprooted in desperation because of a few fleeting uncertainties of life!

© 2023 — A.H. Mehr

With thanks to Delaney Patterson at Soul Magazine.