30 Things I Am Grateful For

This year I turned thirty years old! I remember being in my early twenties thinking how “old” I will be when I am thirty and wondering where my life would be at during that moment. Now, being thirty I still feel young but now I feel I have more knowledge through my experiences, hunger to learn and help people. I am excited for the next ten years and then the following ten years after that to see where my journey has taken me, people I will meet and the lessons I will learn.

Every morning I journal three things that I am grateful for in that moment. Sometimes I am grateful for more meaningful things like my close friends and other times things not so meaningful like my morning showers. Both have an equal effect on me because it is something that I am grateful for in my life that some people may not have; I remember the little things are just as important as the bigger things in life.

I wanted to take time and reflect on my last thirty years and share thirty things I am grateful for in my life. This list is no particular order and this is not everything I am grateful for but what was most relevant in my life.

I am grateful for…

1. My wife. She is my backbone; she has seen me at my highest and at my lowest and still stands by my side with the same love and support she has shown for me since the first day we met. I look up to my wife because she is someone I want to be more like in my own life. She has an amazing impact on the people in her life; she loves and cares so deeply about others. I want to learn to have the compassion for others that she has.

 

2. My inner circle of friends. I have been so lucky to have great people come into my life who have added so much value to my life. This small group has challenged me, shown me guidance and is always there for me. They see greatness in me that motivates me to give my best each day.

 

3. My dogs. I have two dogs and I love them very much. They have tested my patients (in a good way) and shown me how to give unconditional love.

 

4. My family. My mom and dad taught me valuable life lessons at a young age. I follow in my mom’s footsteps having a true desire to want to help others. If I can help someone with anything I never hesitate to give a helping hand; it gives me such a sense of fulfillment. My dad has taught me kindness; treat others how you want to be treated; always so respect and be kind no matter how someone treats you. We are unable to control other people’s behavior but it is our responsibility how we react. The biggest lesson I learned from my dad is that everything happens for a reason.

 

5. My journal. My journal helps collect my thoughts. My brain is always moving, always thinking two steps ahead and at times I have a hard to verbally expressing what is going on in my head. Journaling always to organize my thoughts and things I want to explore. It has given me a great stride to reflect and evaluate myself so I can be the best of my ability; so I am able to give the best of me to others so they can be the best of their abilities.

 

6. My garage gym. I love fitness. Fitness is my time to quiet my mind and just give 100% of myself that day. Being in the gym humbles me and reminds that it takes dedication, passion, and sweat to reach certain goals. Being at a place in my life that I am able to build a garage gym reminds me why I wake up every day and do what I do. I am constantly reminded when I leave and come home from work.

 

7. My books. I am an extreme amateur when it comes to writing books and I don’t know if I would call myself an author but I am so grateful to have completed five books (with a sixth on the way) on topics that I am so passionate about. The feeling you get when you set your mind to a project and complete is hard to put into words. The ability to organize my thoughts and experiences into a book gives me a lot of internal and external pride.

 

8. My education. I am fucking proud of my education. At a young age, I was told by teachers that I would not achieve anything and that I was stupid. I was not stupid I just learned differently and they didn’t know how to teach me. I am proud of my bachelors and master’s degree. For those who went through our program at Fresno State know the honor and privilege, we had getting our master’s degree. We were surrounded by amazing mentors, given the key to the world to explore and follow our passions. The sleepless nights, the countless hours spent in the lab and the plane flights around the country to present research will always hold a special part in my heart. I know that in the future I will go back to school for complete out my educational journey to receive a doctorate.

 

9. My fraternity. I joined a fraternity for all the right reasons. I wanted to squeeze everything I could out of my fraternity and take advantage of the leadership tools they had to offer. I am so thankful that I had the chance to be selected as one of the top men in the country to spend a week at the College of Williams and Mary for an in-depth leadership development course. My fraternity also gave me self-pride to make a name for me at the university and in my state. I was honored to receive the “Greek Man of the Year” award at my college for the top fraternity man that highlighted leadership, gentlemen, community and scholar; and “Outstanding Senior” award in my fraternity of all the chapters in California for my leadership and involvement in the community and scholastically.

 

10. My home. Every day I pause and take a moment to appreciate that I own a home at such a young age; that I have put myself in a position that has allowed me to start a life with my wife in the town that we met, around our friends.

 

11. Yup YouTube. This outlet has given me an endless education on any topic I am interested in and captures a way that is easily attainable. Try it! Look something up that interest you and don’t tell me you don’t get sucked in for hours wanting to learn more.

                                                                                              

12. My morning routines. This prepares me for the rest of the day. What I do in the morning highly reflects how the rest of my day will be; we are creature of habits. My morning routine is simple: I make the bed so I start the day off with completing a task, then I make my coffee and journal what I am grateful for, what things I would like the achieve that day and how will I add value. This sets me up for a purposeful mindset.

 

13. RAWR. This nonprofit organization is an outlet for me to do what I love to do and ask nothing in return. This is a platform that has the potential to reach so many people to add value to their lives. It is also an organization where I get to spend a great amount of time working with one of my best friends. I know each day I will be challenged with a task that only helps better myself.

 

14. My mind. This is where teachers were wrong about me being stupid. I learn differently than other people. I am terrible test taker. I got good grades in school but all that meant was I was able to remember topics for a short period of time to please my teachers. If I am interested in a topic or set my mind to something there is no holding me back. I am 1000% in (yes one-thousand percent) and fully in gross myself into what I am doing. My mind is always hungry to learn and know more.

 

15. Date night. My wife and I started this back in grad school when we first met. We were both very busy with school and work but we made sure that we would spend one day a week where we get food and enjoy our company to the fullest. Eight years later we still have a date night once a week and I can count the amount of times on my hand that we have not done date night because of our schedule. This is a deeply important component to our relationship and what our relationship means to us.

 

16. My scholastics awards. As I mentioned before I was honored to receive a handful of awards within my fraternity but that only pushed me to receive even more scholastic awards. I took deep pride in what I did and the impact I wanted to leave with in university. The award I was honored to receive was the “NASPE Major of the Year” for my outstanding dedication to my major. This award was given to one student at each university and both I and Jeremy received this award as undergrads!

 

17. My job. I am transparent about everything I do and how I feel. The job I am doing now is not my dream job. It is not what I went to school for but I am okay with that because I get to practice things I am passionate about each day with my co-workers. I get to help people every day and I find such fulfillment being able to do this every day. It also has put me in a position to live a comfortable and enjoyable life.

 

18. Movies. I am a movie junkie; always have been; I get lost in movies. During the duration of the movie, I am fulling invested into the movie, the story, and the characters. The world of cinema is very impactful in my life.

 

19. My Phone. I am not a phone junkie. Okay, don’t ask my wife she might say something differently. I have taken an honest reflection of my time spent on my phone and have become very mindful of when to be on my phone and when to leave it in the other room and never look at it. Technology has given us wonderful tools and I use my phone to run many projects that I am working. It always me to do two things at once by the click of my thumb.

 

19. Lewis Howes School of Greatness Podcast. Reflecting now I cannot remember how I found this podcast but it has changed my life. Lewis Howes has an amazing way of connecting with people and discovering what greatness means each individual he interacts with. His words and guidance have helped me through some rough times in my life and has helped guide and discover what I am truly passion about.

 

21. My followers. This may sound cheesy but I am grateful for the people who follow me on social media or my handful of blogs I oversee. I am not looking to be popular and make money of being a celebrity but I see this opportunity to connect with people and add value to their life.

 

22. American Truck Life. This business adventure has taught me a lot about running a business and the tools of marketing. It has been amazing to see our progression from when the company started to know and truly creating a brand.

 

23. Ability to travel. My wife and I like to travel. Our first big trip we did together was to Ireland and we loved every minute of it. We love to explore and embrace the environment and culture we are visiting. We are both in places in our lives that allow us to travel often and we will continue to travel in the future.

 

24. Craft beer. Some people love food; some people love wine; I love craft beer. I find it to be a complex and “new” world of endless possibilities. Most beers I have had I can associate a beautiful memory that went along with it. Actually right now I am drinking a beer that was the first beer that made me fall in love with craft beer. Prost!

 

25. My office. In my house, I have set up an office filled with accomplishments, knowledge, and memories. It is the perfect environment to inspire me.

 

26. My library. My list of books just keeps growing and growing. I started collecting books as young as I can remember. I have always been fascinated with books and where they can take you. Put me in a book store and you can leave more there for hours on end. My goal is to create a home library that I can share with others and allow them to read and learn as much as I have over my years.

 

27. My meditation app. Meditation has played a big part in my life this year to help clear my mind, refocus and appreciate. Like I have said my mind is always going and trying to shut it down is hard. On my phone, I have an app that takes me through a guided mediation for five minutes (still working on my ability to focus and not think for a long period of time).

 

28. My abilities to connect with others. Connecting with people is just a natural thing I have and I believe it stems from truly caring about other people and their success. I want to get to know people, listen to them and find out how I can help them.

 

29. Past experiences. I have the past that not many people know about and when the time is right I will share my past. But my past has shaped the person who I am the person I want to be to other people. I would never ask for my life and past experiences to be any different because it would not have given the desire to be who I am today.

 

30. My life. I am thirty years old. I am grateful for my life and the people in my life. Simple as that!

 

Now that you know things that I am grateful for I challenge you to take two weeks to write down three things that you are grateful for in your life each day. After the two week period reflect on how you feel and perceive things in your life. What is the biggest different? What did you discover about yourself? Email me and share your experience.

sean.rawrnonprofit@gmail.com

-Sean C.