Coming back from a vacation can be difficult for anyone. People across the United States are returning to their occupations after spending a holiday reflecting on everything they are thankful for in their lives.

Maintaining the grateful thoughts and feelings accumulated with close friends and family can be difficult once we plunge back into the daily routine of life.

However, it is beneficial to maintain our gratefulness beyond the Thanksgiving table.

Since it is good for you to be grateful, you should find ways to make thankfulness a regular occurrence. A study in Time cites that people who kept a journal of the things they are thankful for had healthier hearts.

Often writing down what you are grateful for is much more beneficial for you than just thinking about it. Additionally, when you keep a journal, you can return to it in the future to remember what you were grateful for in the past.

Sometimes it can be difficult to find something to be thankful for. Life has its share of trouble, and sometimes it may feel like you have not had a good turn for yourself in a while. Working to be grateful in dark times can help you pull yourself out of your situation. There are reasons that many of us should be thankful for now that we might not think about on a day-to-day basis, such as simply being alive and living in a developed country like the U.S.

By living here and now, even the poorest of us are, in a historic and global perspective, some of the richest people ever. We are so spoiled with all the amenities that we take for granted, as easily as we take for granted the breath in our lungs. The electricity, efficient plumbing, easy access to food, easy transportation — all of these are conveniences that we may take for granted.

Think about 200 years ago, when travel from New York City to Washington D.C. would take almost a week. Now the trip takes just under four hours. So if you cannot be grateful for the job you have (or don’t have), the boyfriend or girlfriend you don’t have remind yourself of the many utilities that are taken for granted.

Spend time being grateful; use what you can to remind yourself of the good things in your life. It is good for you, and will be good for those around you. Even when life does not seem to be going the way you want it, especially as finals approach, take a bit of time to gather perspective and you can be sure to find reasons to be thankful.

Harrison is a junior in ACES.

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