A Simple ‘Hack’ That Will Instantly Make You Appreciate Your Life

Every day I ride my bike past the same bus stop, and every day I see the same elderly homeless woman, completely wrapped in all sorts of tattered blankets from head to toe, sitting on the bench there.

Just today, I was at a restaurant with my friend Lyndsey. She ordered a shrimp Caesar salad, ate half of it and declined to take the rest home, so I asked the server to box it up. I wanted to give it to a homeless person on my way home .

Sure enough, as I approached the bus stop on my bike ride home, there was the homeless woman, completely wrapped from head to toe in her tattered blankets as usual.

As I slowed down my bike to hand her the bag of food, she peeked her face from inside one of the blankets and looked at me as if I was up to no good.

Quickly sensing her unease, I reached out toward her with the bag and said, “I brought you some food,” to which she replied, pleasantly surprised:

“Oh, it must be my lucky day.”

Some people feel lucky when land a new job, find $20 on the floor or get an early upgrade for the newest iPhone.

This woman felt lucky when someone brought her food out of the blue, unsure of when her next meal is going to come.

It was in that moment that I realized just how fortunate I am, and just how insignificant my problems are in the grand scheme of things.

So what if I lose a client at yarn. So what if The Social Media Freelancer isn’t progressing as fast as I’d like. So what if my girlfriend lives halfway across the world and I don’t know the next time I’m going to see her.

At the end of the day, I just dropped $25 on a burger and fries, and then biked HOME — you know, the place I’m going to sleep in a comfy bed, with breakfast waiting for me in the refrigerator tomorrow morning.

There’s no question that we all battle our unique set of problems, struggles and unknowns — many of which are certainly justified and respectable — but when we really step back and look at the bigger picture, every day is our lucky day.

If you’re feeling down on your luck for any given reason, give a homeless person your leftover food the next time you eat out and you’ll see what I mean 😀