Being thankful

Yes, it’s the cliche Thanksgiving post.

As you can see by the total lack of posts this month, it’s been a busy month for me, at work, in class, and even socially (four different out-of-towners visited last week although I only managed to see three). I’m taking a quick break up in Boston for Thanksgiving before I settle into the end-of-term crunch (master’s project, group term project, take-home final, in-class final, master’s project presentation over the next four weeks).

But I do want to take the time to be thankful for all that I have.

I was reading Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow on the bus ride last night, and one thing that is apparent is how lucky I am to have all of my basic needs from Maslow’s hierarchy satisfied.

I’ve got a roof over my head, a steady salary, and enough savings to do pretty much whatever I want.

I’ve got great friends and family who support me throughout all of my endeavors (more on that later).

It’s only because I have all of those basic needs satisfied that I can spend time trying to figure out what I really want to do, or who I really want to be, and all of the other self-actualization needs at the top of Maslow’s pyramid. So my angst about what to do with my life is really a testament to having everything else in place, and I am very thankful for that.

I also am constantly gratified that I have the friends and family that I do, who do amazing things and inspire me to do more myself:

  • My parents gave me everything I needed growing up, challenging me to achieve more, and put me through MIT, where I met many of my friends.
  • My sister recently passed her industrial hygienist certification test after studying for months, is currently backpacking around Guatamala, and will be traveling to Southeast Asia in December.
  • The friend that crashed with me last weekend was in town for a fencing tournament, where he came in second, beating half the U.S. Olympic team in the process.
  • Another visiting friend was interviewing for a professor position at Sarah Lawrence.
  • The other visiting friends were Christy and Eric from Instructables, in town for some business meetings as they steadily move towards taking over the world.

And those are just the people I’ve talked to in the past week. I go on and on about my friends because they are truly fantastic. I believe that you can judge people by the company they keep, and I am honored that my friends choose to spend time with me. I would not be the person I am without them.

I’m also thankful to anybody that is reading this post. This blog has been a great place for me to express and organize my thoughts, and I hope that I can continue to deliver posts that are interesting and keep you coming back.

3 thoughts on “Being thankful

  1. There is a post on my LJ at the moment describing the degree to which I covet the Tesla Roadster.

    I don’t particularly care for cars in general, nor do I expect to ever own one of these in particular. More than anything, I’m in love with the idea of the car, and I am just thoroughly enjoying wanting one.

    I am thankful to have that level of detachment from expensive goodies.

    Two days ago I stopped in an open house very near to my apartment in San Francisco. The staging was incredible, and the place itself was breathtaking. I walked from marble tub to Wolf stove to fancy laundry room through artfully appointed hallways, and a different thought stuck with me, one that you refer to in your post and which is the reason I am posting in the first place:

    The only thing I wish I had that I don’t have, the only thing that would make life noticeably better… would be more and better space for guests.

    Friends everywhere, including you, unrepentant blogger: I do hope you’ll visit more often once I get that part squared away.

    Thanks for your influence in my life!

  2. Perlich, I am thankful for your friendship too. You are pretty inspiring yourself, you know! 🙂
    (awwwwww…..)

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