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I can't claim this idea of writing about things I'm thankful as being completely my own. Aside from it being an idea any number of people could have, the seeds were probably planted when a college friend did this in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. She challenged her friends to do the same. I admired the idea but didn't follow suit, until now.
I bring that up because one of the things she said she was thankful for was her past, because it helped shape and mold her and it's led her to where she is today. I admired that, too, and I told her so even though I was pretty sure I couldn't say the same thing.
You may not know it to look at me but I'm pretty hard on myself for the mistakes I make and the mistakes I've made. I hang on to my failures and perceived failures long after most people have forgotten them and certainly longer than any of my successes.
What does any of that have to do with gratitude or U2's "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of?" A lot, for me. Sports coaches give pep talks to their players before big games or on the sideline or dugout, encouraging them to give everything they have and then to give even more. I don't have a life coach. I have an iPod with more than 23,000 songs. Not all of them guide me. Not all of the encourage or nourish me. "Stuck" does, and I'm so thankful for that. Another U2 song — "Ultraviolet" — calls out for someone to light their way. That's how I think of "Stuck In A Moment;" it's a light in dark places, or at least dark times. Not only that, it reminds me bad times are temporary even when they don't feel that way.
The only person keeping those past failures alive is me.
