Author Regina Brett once said, “If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.”

In life, it seems that often the highest highs are intertwined with the lowest lows. We share our successes with friends, neighbours and social media networks.  But we often face our lows alone.  We’re embarrassed.  We don’t know where to start.  We don’t want to be judged.

The thing is we’re actually not alone.  Because everyone has a chapter of their story that they don’t let everyone read.  And as Regina Brett said, we’d probably take our own issues back once we saw what everyone else had to deal with.

Instead of focusing on what upsets us, we need to be grateful for all the good things.  Our health.  Our loved ones.  Having a place to lay our head at night and a way to earn a living.

As retired pediatric surgeon and author Bernie Siegel once said, “Most of us never stop to consider our blessings; rather, we spend the day only thinking about our problems. But since you have to be alive to have problems, be grateful for the opportunity to have them.”

Here’s to remembering what makes us smile, owning our challenges and being grateful that we have the chance to take this journey at all.