Five Unexpected Blessings to Be Grateful For

Most of us in the U.S. are celebrating Thanksgiving today. As I sat down to write what I’m grateful for, here are five things that came up that usually don’t belong on my list. And yet, as I thought about each of these they are absolutely essential to my growth as a leader and as a human being. Take a quick read.

Five Blessings We Forget to be Grateful For

1)      Difficult People – We all have them. They push our buttons. We butt heads with them or we avoid them. We almost never feel grateful for them. Yet, if we let them, these difficult people have so much to teach us. The difficult people in my life teach me to take deep breaths. They teach me patience. They teach me about what attitudes, beliefs, traits set me off. These are likely my own blind spots – because traits we dislike in others likely exist in us and we refuse to see or own them.

2)      Challenges and Obstacles – Think of one challenge you’re facing right now. How is it helping you develop stronger muscles? What is it teaching you about yourself? Is this a challenge you persistently face? Likely this challenge is around to help you grow yourself, to help you develop greater confidence and strength when you overcome it, to help you create new possibilities when you can see beyond it.

3)      Imperfections – We all have them. We hardly ever feel gratitude for them. Yet, in expressing gratitude for our weaknesses we recognize we are human and imperfect and somehow this notion lets us be more comfortable in our own skins.  Through embracing our imperfections we are able to embrace those of others and let go of the quest for perfection. Through our imperfections we realize how much we need each other.  Our weaknesses allow us to value and appreciate the impact of those in our lives and on our teams who have complementary skills. Embracing our imperfections allows us to truly connect with others.

4)      Failures – We feel gratitude for our successes but hardly our failures.  Somehow we don’t make the distinction between having failed and being a failure. Yet, the two are quite different. Think about a failure you have experienced. What has this taught you? How did you grow as a leader and as a human being? How did it make you stronger and more resilient? All progress in society is as a result of failure. Think about it. And say thanks for yours.

5)      Difficult emotions – Sadness, disappointment, negativity, anger, frustration. I tend to avoid these emotions.  They are uncomfortable.  What are you doing to avoid feeling these emotions? Working too much? Eating too much? At what personal cost? We expend a lot of energy to avoid feeling emotions that are uncomfortable. For example, we don’t go for our big dream because we hate feeling disappointed.  We won’t take the first step in a relationship because we don’t want to feel rejected.  Once we can embrace our dark emotions, they clear the space for new possibilities we can create for ourselves.  A great place to start is by being grateful for them.

My Thanksgiving wish for all of us this year is to be grateful for the unexpected blessings in our lives. Wishing you and yours a bountiful Thanksgiving holiday.

This article was written by Henna Inam, C-level executive coach, global speaker, and author of the book Wired for Disruption. She helps leaders grow their agility to be a force for good and thrive in times of change. They create organizations that drive breakthroughs in innovation, growth, and engagement. In roles including Head E-Innovation and Chief Innovation and Marketing Officer, Henna drove transformation throughout her 20-year corporate career as an executive with Fortune 500 companies. Join the thousands who follow her blog here. Connect on Linkedin.