Attitude of Gratitude

Whenever I am in trouble, I start complaining. Why does this happen to me only? I whine about my troubles all the time. I consider everyone happier and more blessed than I am. I always protest to Almighty Allah and say: O God! Why does this happen to me only? And then I consider myself the most helpless person on this earth. I usually compare success with my fellows and peers. If they leave me behind in the race of success, I consider myself a failure, and if I leave them behind, I will consider them a failure. I never compare my today with my yesterday or my present with my past. I never compare myself with people who are less fortunate than me, but I compare myself with the people who are ahead of me and that becomes a barrier for my self-motivation.

Once I read an article on “Gratitude”. It was mentioned in the article that if you compare your today with your past or compare yourself with the people who are behind you, then you would not complain again about: Why does this happen to me only? That article changed my life. I thought about my past and compared it with my present. I thought about my peers who are not as blessed as me. Eventually, I realized how blessed and fortunate I am, Al-Hamdulillah.

In the article, the author emphasized on leaving our comfortable mattresses for one night and sleeping on the floor without any mattress. Only then will you realize how blessed you are to have at least something to sleep on. Leave your 800 CC vehicles at home for one day and travel on public transport; you will realize the importance of having 800 CC vehicles. Spend one day without eating anything; you will realize the importance of one morsel of meal. A small headache seems like big trouble. Visit a cancer patient in your nearby hospital; you will realize how small your pain is. We, as humans, are habitual of looking at others as better individuals than us and we always complain and ask this question: O God! Why does this happen to me only?

When we get late for office or spend a sleepless night, we complain. When we miss a flight or don’t get a seat in business class, we complain. When it’s about achieving good grades in university or getting a job in a multinational company, we complain. At times, we even curse ourselves for being so unlucky. No matter where we are, whining is in our genes. Ungratefulness is something without which we can’t live.

I am one of the ungrateful beings in this world. When I don’t get good grades, when I see my mates at higher positions than me, when I see my friends making better presentations than me, when I see others writing better articles than me, when I see others as better speakers than me; I just look up at the sky and ask the Almighty Allah with tears, “Oh Allah! Why does this happen to me only?“.

It is said that time heals almost everything, give time some time and time is the best teacher to teach you everything. With time, I have learnt that, as an average student, I can’t receive respect; I have to earn it. I learnt that it is not the position that matters but it is the commitment towards your job that matters. I learnt that making good presentations comes with practice, so let’s work on that. I learnt that it is better to improve your writing skills rather than wasting your time in looking at others and considering them as better writers. As a speaker, I just cared for those who told me that my speeches were not up to the mark, but then I realized that there are people who have liked my speeches, some have even become fans and respect me because of my speeches. Eventually, I looked around and thanked the Almighty Allah for His endless blessings.

We should all thank Allah for whatever He gives us. We should thank Allah for his countless blessings. We should thank Allah for bestowing upon us 1490 colors that have made this world so colorful and 6718 fragrances that have made this world more fragrant. We should thank Allah for bestowing upon us days to work and nights to rest. We should thank Allah that we are Pakistanis. We, indeed, cannot ignore His countless blessings. Because we can read this article, say Al-Hamdulillah!