Gratefulness: day 6
The three things I am grateful for today are:
My friend Vinny.
Vinny is a man whom I met through my “spiderweb” of friends. In the past I have needed to draw out a concept map for those that were interested to know how I had come to meet the amazing people in my life.
The following is a guide to how I became great friends with Vinny in 10 easy steps:
Whilst at uni in Ballarat I played football; that’s “soccer” for those of you who are still insisting on calling the world game that.
2. At the club I played for I met a champion bloke called Pete, who will get his own post one of these days. Pete invited me to come and stay with him in London if I ever followed through with my plan to live there. I’m sure he didn’t think I’d take him up on the offer.
Whilst staying on Pete’s couch I met his housemates. He had met one of them in the Austrian alps not long before I arrived and they decided to move in together.
4. We all became good friends and they’ll all get their own posts one of these days.
5. Vinny was the brother of 3 of the housemates.
6. He came to visit for a short time for his sister’s wedding.
7. We went to Prague together and became friends as we sailed the Vlatava River in a wooden ship captained by Oläf Nothisrealname.
8. At his brother’s wedding, I stayed at his place and he kindly showed me around the central coast of New South Wales. I introduced him to Goliath and I have/will never hear the end of it.
9. Years later I moved to Melbourne where he had recently relocated.
10. He is wise beyond his years and has been a very supportive friend to me, probably more than he knows. We both enjoy food, sport, music and beer, however he can drink a lot more beer than me without consequence #lessonslearnedthehardway.
Why am I telling you all this? Because it is Vinny who introduced me to Medium. At the time I was when I was telling him about the idea for my blog, one of his colleagues was busy busting out blogs on this app so he suggested Medium and I haven’t looked back. Thanks big guy :)
2. The ability to read
Now, Vinny introducing me to Medium is one thing, but being able to utilize it is a completely different story. Reading is a skill, one that I am still apparently improving, as often the time suggested for me to read a post on medium is much shorter than it actually takes me. The time and a half rule is fairly accurate for me… I’ll get there :)
I found reading very boring when I was growing up. TV, video games and sport were much more appealing. However, I am grateful that I had parents and teachers that not only stressed the importance of this skill, but also ensured that I reached a literate level. Today, having this skill has meant that in a little under half an hour I was able to be inspired by Yann Girard
Jon Westenberg https://medium.com/p/9ad628c8709
and Drew Stegmaier
who all wrote about quite different topics, but all three really struck a chord with me. If I didn’t have the ability to read, my thought process at this moment and more than likely throughout my entire life, would be very different. Also, the excitement and gratitude that I am feeling for the NOW and the future would potentially be non existent.
3. My safety.
Today on the way home from work in Quito I took the Ecovia as usual. Touch wood, but at this point I rarely feel unsafe, it’s my comfort that I am usually worried about. Tonight I had a few sideways glances which made me grip my bag a bit tighter, but nothing untoward happened.
As I walked up the street that leads to my house I said good evening to one of the many guards that are dotted around my neighborhood sitting in tiny shacks with room for no more than a seat and a portable TV. Diego looked tired and unappreciated.
I decided to change that.
I told Diego that I value his work, as I always feel safe as I walk around this area during the night. As I spoke to this Quiteño, who works nights so he slept all day today, his face was like a dimmer light being slowly twisted to the right in order to illuminate a room. It was a short conversation, but I know that he really enjoyed hearing these few words even if my grammar was a bit all over the place… He got the message, which also made me feel great and I achieved 2 points to bring my total for the year to 189.
If the points mentioned above made you think WTF is this bloke on about, hit the link to the game of 2016 above and educate yourself.
Today it was reiterated to me how one small act of appreciation can have an impact on another human being. You just have to be switched on and willing to see it.
