How I Grew Gratitude in My Life

When I decided to write this article, I pondered for a large chunk of time about what I should discuss in my writing. I concluded to talk about my own unique experiences with a variety of cultures and people while living abroad. Hence, I would like to share what I observed during my life in the Philippines and how my reaction to it shaped my way of thinking.

The Philippines was where I started meeting new kinds of people as it was the first country I lived in outside of Korea. My family moved to the Philippines when I was in fifth grade. After saying goodbyes in tears to my friends in Korea, I boarded the plane to the Philippines feeling half anxious and half thrilled. As soon as my family arrived there, we went to the school that my siblings and I would attend for the following three years or so to take the entrance exam. I assume they were checking our English fluency since it was an international school. Fortunately, I qualified, though barely, and for about the next four months before school started, I dedicated myself to improving my English.

My school was one of the top international schools in the Philippines, and there were a number of friends who came from highly affluent backgrounds. It was almost common for their families to own more than two cars along with hiring several drivers. I would see palace- like houses when my friends invited me over.

In school, my friends and I would just act like normal teenagers would do, but there were some moments when I felt as if they lived in a different world I did not belong to. One instance of those moments happened when two of my friends came to my house to pick me up to hang out outside. After a while, one of them said to the other that his house was very big. Then, he looked at me and cautiously murmured that my house was a mini size (I should make it clear that I was living in quite a large house at that time). I laughed off because I knew he was trying to make jokes and that he was genuinely a nice friend, but when I got home, I began to ask myself an endless amount of questions, ranging from “Is my house honestly that small?” to “Am I underprivileged?”.

The discouraging contemplation, however, did not last for long because as I went to school, I could realize how extraordinary life I was living. I was going to a school that offered me abundant opportunities to try new things such as playing flute in a school band, getting into a swim team, participating in bake sales held for donations, and singing in a choir. These are experiences that cannot be traded with anything else. They have stayed and will continue to stay with me forever. Being able to attend that kind of school and meet friends who come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures already was what I felt appreciative of.

As I started to view things in my life with a brighter lens, I could remove all my bleak thoughts and be grateful for what I have. Living abroad alone definitely benefited me in an incredible number of aspects. Not to mention that I was given advantages for being bilingual; it gave me — an elementary school kid back then— a gratifying feeling when I one day found myself using Google instead of Naver for research.

I believe being appreciative of what I have eventually leads to adoring who I am because my experiences build up my true self. Is it not intriguing how that little saying by my friend made me learn to be grateful for my life? To wrap up, this is how I could reflect on the things that I feel thankful for.