Alex Heizer

Thanksgiving is a traditional time in the US for people to pause, reflect on the past year and their life, in general, and give thanks for the things they’re blessed with. Over the past few years I haven’t been waiting for some arbitrary day to do that. I’m so thankful each day for the blessings in my life. But here are some things I’m thankful for this Thurdsay.

Many people are thankful for material things. I’ve been thankful to learn to let go of rooms full of material things. My life is much less cluttered and disorderly.

I’m thankful for less food. I used to eat a lot of bad stuff — insanely delicious Tastykake pumpkin pies that were only around in the fall. Boxfulls of marshmallow-laced breakfast cereals. Loaves of fluffy aromatic bread. And high-fructose corn syrup-laden soda, at times by the gallon. Literally. And more. You get the idea. But with such bounty came other blessings like obesity, asthma, learning disabilities and pre-diabetes symptoms. By eating a natural diet of meat, healthy animal fats and limited amounts of fruits and nuts, I have regained my physical, emotional and spiritual health. By letting go of most things that most Americans are obsessed with, I have freed my health. Gone are the monthly visits to the doctor that I enjoyed as a child.

But the one thing I am most thankful for is the opportunity to learn to be a good friend. Trained for years by selfish, manipulative people pretending to care, I had lost the ability to just be a caring friend. My best friend Michelle has been an amazingly loving, caring friend who is more of an inspiration than I deserve to have in my life. Every day I am more thankful for the opportunity to learn to be a better friend to her, which means, by default, this Thanksgiving I am the most thankful to be able to call her “friend” than ever.