Live in Gratitude

Today during gynaecology clinic, had a 21 year old female patient (duhh, it’s gynae. Ever seen a man in gynae clinic?) who has gone through it. And when I say “it,” I mean it.

• 2012: Has surgery, a hernia repair, hoping that that would end the abdominal pain she had. Hernia was repaired but abdominal pain was still present.
• 2013: Had another surgery, this time her appendix had become inflamed and needed to be taken out. No, the abdominal pain she had didn’t end after this surgery.
  • Same year, goes to live with her aunt (because she’s an orphan and both her parents died in her childhood due to HIV related complications) who didn’t believe in hospitals and denied her formal health care up until 2021 when…
• 2021: Was diagnosed with TB of the knee joints. Resolved… but not the abdominal pain. That is still there.
• 2024: Has surgery in April because a hole had formed in her intestines. And guess what? The abdominal pain is still there even after.

She’s never had periods in her life like you’d expect other females of her age. And she now lives at a home and she’s only getting medical care because of a sponsor.

And as I was taking her history, I felt something move inside of me.

Comparison is the thief of joy, and the provider of it too?

If there is one thing I try to aviod is comparing my life to stories like this one.

Because when does it end? That opens up the room to the opposite, comparing your life to those who have better lives than you! Hence you will end up feeling like you are behind or some other nonsense belief.

But at the same time, you hear such stories and you can’t help but feel grateful for the life you have.

But that isn’t it. It shouldn’t be like that.

You shouldn’t be grateful of your life in comparison to someone else, but you should be grateful for your life because it is your life. And you are living it.

And that’s what the Bible tries to tell us when it says, “In everything, give thanks.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). It’s not because of a comparison to someone else’s life, but it’s God’s will that you are living the life that you are living.

Don’t be a catastrophiser

However, as from everything. There are lessons to be learnt. Problems in your life are problems. No doubt.

But don’t catastrophise them. Don’t make them bigger than they are. Don’t make them the end of the world. Because they are not. That takes your eye away from looking at the positives and being very grateful for the things that you have.

I mean, let’s think about this.

You are reading this. You are probably using a device 100 times better than what they used to land on the moon back in the last century. You have access to the internet which is a vast learning tool. You probably ate something today. You are going to have a roof over your head today. You probably didn’t die from the Zimbabwean heat today (maybe tomorrow because yoh)

You have a lot going on for you, yet you ruminate over that one text and your whole day turns upside down because of that?

Conclusion

Gratitude is the prerequisite to happiness (I feel the John Maxwell in me awakening). And we should just everyday, wake up in gratitude, not because the next door house burnt down yesterday, but just because that’s the will of God over our lives.

The moment you want to live in comparison, they might make you feel good for the times you compare yourself to people below you (again, I don’t know on what scale), but you will inevitably feel bad when you compare yourself to people above you (what social media does to us).

So live in gratitude. Not because of someone else’s life, but because of your life. And because of the life that you are living.