They told me I almost died. It was meant to be a routine procedure, just jaw surgery, the kind my doctor promised he’d performed hundreds of times without an issue. But when I woke up, something was wrong. The familiar recovery room I expected was nowhere to be found. Instead, I was in the cold and unsettling intensive care unit, disoriented and scared. The doctor’s face was tight, his words clinical, almost too careful. He told me that my surgery never happened. He said he cut an artery and that I almost bled out. 50 percent of my blood supply was gone, yet he acted as if the transfusions I needed were not a big deal. Half of me was missing. I was hollowed out, empty, and all I felt was anger.
I was more frustrated with the surgery and everything that had gone wrong than I was grateful to be alive. I acted with ignorance, never thanking the doctors for saving my life, or recognizing the time and effort that went into helping me recover. But now, over a year later, I can look back on my surgery with a clearer mind. Despite everything that went wrong, I’m still here. For that, I’m incredibly grateful.
It’s easy to let frustrations cloud the things we could feel grateful for. It’s easy to complain when life doesn’t go as planned, but that’s when we need to pause and reevaluate our mindset the most. Instead of only seeing the bad in hardships, we can choose to be grateful for the lessons we learned and the resilience we developed.
Take something as simple as sitting in class. I often hear complaints about the stress and work school can bring, but it’s easy to forget that education is a luxury. Many people around the world dream of having access to the education we often take for granted. At school, we have an opportunity to learn, grow and build our futures, yet we grumble about the very thing that shapes us.
What if, instead of complaining, we paused and recognized how lucky we are to receive an education? What if, instead of getting discouraged by setbacks, we reminded ourselves of everything we do have?
Practicing gratitude transforms our mindsets and helps us cope with unpleasant situations more effectively. By focusing on what we’re thankful for, we shift our attention away from the negativity and stress that often dominate our thoughts, and instead find meaning within challenges.
Don’t get me wrong, life can be tough. There are times when it’s perfectly natural to feel upset. It’s okay to be angry when things don’t go as planned, but if we allow ourselves to step outside of these emotions and acknowledge what we could be grateful for, we can change our entire perspective.
Looking back, I can still picture myself lying in that hospital bed, devastated and allowing disappointment to overtake my thoughts. I was so discouraged that I needed to recover from a mistake I didn’t cause that I never slowed down to be grateful I was alive. My mindset controlled how I healed, and I often wonder how much smoother my recovery could’ve been if I’d simply paused to say, “Thank you.”