First World Problems

 I don’t suffer from lack. Even when my bank account is nothing but an echo chamber, I have all I need and so much of what I want. How many people in the world can say that? If I decide to go on a fast, it’s by choice rather than circumstance. How many people in the world today are on involuntary fasts due to awful conditions? If I indulge in feeling sad about something personal, that sadness may be real, but it is temporary. ‘This too shall pass’.

At this moment, I look out my balcony door onto the fresh green of Spring’s awakened trees. There are blooms all around, and the heady scent of Star Jasmine delights my senses. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, and when I hear a jet overhead, I know it is simply a transport rather than a reason to take cover. How blessed I am!

I have a refrigerator and a pantry full of food. I have a fan gently stirring the air around me. I have a kitten who is bonding with me, climbing into my lap with no prompting in order to lull me into peace with her tiny purring. When awake, she delights me with her running, jumping, and hunting prowess as she runs from feather prey to furry prey and back again.

I have people in my life who care deeply about me, and whom I, in turn, love and respect. Family, friends, a lover—I want for nothing. I’ll be traveling soon with a friend from decades ago to visit a mutual friend from the same era. What joy! I have family I can visit whenever I have the opportunity, and can enjoy them where they live and play. More joy! I don’t even have to save up to see them in person—technology puts us in each others’ living rooms!

These things and so much more are what I am grateful for on a daily basis. There is power in naming them, feeling them, filling myself with them. They allow me the perspective to see that when I’m absorbed in difficulties, I’m still a blessed person. 

Problems will arise, and they will find resolution and pass, because that’s what life includes. All things considered, I’m a very fortunate woman, living in this First World.