April | 2017 | Becky Jael

When my College Paris study abroad program ended, my mom and cousin met up with me in Paris and we traveled around a few other countries for a couple weeks and ended back in Paris. Since I didn’t want to pack around 4 months worth of belongings, my Director and his wife who were staying on for the next semester, kindly volunteered to let me keep my stuff at their apartment for those 2 weeks. At the end of our trip when we met to pick up my luggage, the Director’s wife told my mom how much her husband had appreciated my positive attitude through the whole program. He had been the professor of the French culture class where each week we had discussed some literature about a specific aspect of the culture and were then to go out and experience it and turn in a written assignment about our experiences. Some of these cultural differences were a little difficult for many of the students (I am sure no one can image what I am talking about… after all there are no negative french stereotypes…), which was then reflected in their writing. My professor had been impressed with the positivity that was in all of my assignments and how I had managed to find the good in each situation, even when things didn’t turn out how I had hoped or planned. I think I had always had a natural tendency to see the good, the whole glass is half full perspective, but from the moment I heard these things from my professor’s wife I unconsciously began to think of myself as a positive person, and it became a sort of internal hallmark of who I thought I was.

Recently though I have been wondering if I have been slowly moving away from that, allowing the annoyances and frustrations of life to affect my previously positive perspective. I want to continue to be that person that always sees the good in things, and I firmly believe that there is nothing like gratitude to help you see all that you do have in life. So I wanted to take a moment to focus on the positive aspects of my life right now, and write some little “Thank You Notes” for all the things that I am currently grateful for!