Choosing to be Thankful

November can be a tough month. The days continue to get shorter, and the weather keeps getting colder. Maybe “Thanksgiving” was added to the calendar because too many people were complaining about the cold at this time of the year and someone said, “hey, be thankful, it isn’t that bad!”

I’m usually impressed when I go around and visit our different sites. Most of the residents are positive, even though they could probably choose not to be. The residents at Merrivista, in particular, have been living through a renovation project for the past year, and it seems most of them are keeping a positive attitude. I am grateful for that…and the good news is that we are almost done. It has been loud and noisy, but it will be worth it. Thanks for “hanging in there.”

I’ve been to several professional development trainings over the years, and one that has stuck with me in particular involved the phrase, “choose your attitude”. I think we have all struggled with this at one time or another in life. Choose my attitude? Ok, today I choose to be angry, difficult, feel sorry for myself, etc. Those are certainly options, but probably not the best ones. It seems to me that the happy people I run into are often the ones who have made the choice to be thankful, positive, or at the very least, the choice to not give into the negativity.

As we approach Thanksgiving this month, I want to say that I am thankful for our staff members. When I think about the work that we do I am amazed and grateful. Our Property Managers help provide new homes to those moving in and they do tons of paperwork to assure residents rents are affordable. Our Maintenance staff and housekeepers fix things that break and constantly clean everything. Our Dining Services teams and health aides provide meals and personal care and support to our residents. Our Wellness nurses and service coordinators help guide the way, monitoring residents, making recommendations, and are a listening ear to those in need. Community Life, activities, transportation, marketing…all doing great things to provide for residents and promote Bethany. Administration, Finance, Operations, HR, Development, Bookkeeping, all watching over the bottom line, paying bills, raising money, making sure we are financially stable. What a team. What a crew. I can’t believe how many people work here! I am grateful, and if you are too, please thank our staff when you have the chance.

To be thankful is to be thoughtful. Take some time this month to think about the good things in life and the good people you know. When you do, you will be choosing a good attitude.

“Attitudes are contagious, make yours worth catching.”