Gratitude

I was on social media the other day and came across a really interesting quote by Anne Frank. The quote reads, “Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones, because the regret is stronger than gratitude." This quote really got me thinking, my family and I lost both of our grandfathers a few years back and my parents always say that they would do anything just to have one more moment with their dads, they would do anything just to see them smile one last time. Many people likely have that same thought, but why? Why do so many people express that feeling? Thinking about how people often say or think that I began to wonder, Is their regret stronger than their gratitude? What can I do to make sure my regret won’t be stronger than my gratitude? What can we all do to make sure our regret won’t be stronger than our gratitude?

Let’s look at this from another angle, we all at some point in time will die or lose a family member in death. Perhaps many of you already have lost someone in death. It’s sad to think about but true. If you lose someone in death tomorrow, if your best friend was in their death bed, would they know that you deeply care for them? Would they feel like you were their biggest supporter in life? Did you show them that you are grateful for their friendship? Most of you might answer no to that thought provoking question, sad to say I think my answer might be no as well. I personally always felt like my friends and family just know that I care for them, but I’ve learned that they don’t always just know. We all need reassurance in life, we need reassurance that we are doing well at work or reassurance that we made the right decision in a difficult situation. If we need reassurance in all those areas, wouldn’t we need reassurance that we are loved and cared for? This happens too much all over the world, us as humans get so busy and we forget to give the people that we treasure the time, attention, and reassurance that our loved ones need.

Now you may be wondering, how can I make sure that my regret won’t be stronger than my gratitude? Initially one might think, “I’ll just tell my family and friends I love them.” If you’re anything like me, saying the L word is very uncomfortable and just weird and I have always had a hard time saying that to people. I don’t really know why that’s just how I am I guess. For people that feel the same way, what can we do? How can we show that we are grateful for others? I pondered over this question for a while and this is what I came up with. Actions speak louder than words, we could do things for our friends and family to show our gratitude for them. We could take them to dinner, catch a movie, give them a gift, or just have a night in with them but overall be there for them. When we do these things we can truly make our friends and family feel like we are grateful for their friendship.

Let us not be like the people Anne Frank mentioned in her quote. Let us show gratitude for our friends and family, be there for our loved ones. In doing this, the phrase “There is more happiness in giving than receiving” will come into action in our lives and we will be happier. I urge each and every one of you, do not let your regret become stronger than your gratitude, if you do you will have a life filled with painful regrets and that is no way to live.