10 Things I'm Most Grateful For

You never know what is going to happen in your life, or how long you have left.

So, I decided to write an article of the things I am most grateful for in my life. I love the idea that at one point in my life, I have taken the step of publicly putting on record what matters to me!

I'd love to hear some of your own things you are grateful for- in the comments, or sent to me as a DM. Of course you don't have to have ten, it is an arbitrary number. Even one will do!

Also, if you would like some help thinking about things you are grateful for in your life in general, my wife (who I'll mention in a minute) actually created a guided positivity journal, called The Moments Journal, which might help!

Before I share my list, please rest assured that my life is far from perfect and I'm far from perfect as a human being! I have many flaws and things I want to improve and not every aspect of my life is always great- that's not how the world works! In my better moments, I am very grateful though.

Here's my top ten, in no particular order (apart from number 1):

1- My wife

I'm so lucky to have met my wife. Us actually meeting was a series of unlikely occurrences (but we like to think of it as fate).

She adds immeasurably to my life in so many ways.

I get to live with my best friend; she's so kind and thoughtful; I love the way she shows up in the world.

I feel both that I must have known her for many lifetimes and yet every year we are together I appreciate her and learn about her- and from her- a bit more.

We've already had so many adventures and I can't wait to have many more.

If you'd like to follow her work, you can find her here.

I am grateful for my wife.

2- My family and close friends

I am very lucky I grew up in a house surrounded by love and while I come from a modest background I never wanted for anything.

As I get older the more I realize that sadly a lot of people don't get this start in life- or have parents who have always believed in them and supported them.

I also feel grateful that I acquired a lovely new family when I married my wife- who have been so kind to me too.

I'm grateful for my friends, especially my closest friends- and for all the different things I got to do in my life that exposed me to a wider circle of people than I would have guessed I would get to meet.

I am grateful for my family and friends.

3- Coffee

Coffee might seem an odd thing to pick on this list.

First, I do genuinely love coffee. It is one of the things that consistently makes me happy. I feel like I experience the world when I drink coffee. I love having a favourite coffee style (cortado) a favourite way of drinking coffee (Vietnamese drip coffee with condensed milk) and that I've tried so many types and styles of coffee (including coffee with cheese in northern Sweden for example).

I enjoy all sorts of coffee and am not a snob at all (aside from people making cappuccinos from powder, which arguably should be outlawed).

I am grateful that somehow through the miracle of human endeavour I get to have a consistently delicious cup to drink, often on the other side of the world from where it was grown. I'm grateful for all the coffee innovators over the years that made that possible. The stovetop moka pot, for example, is a thing of genius.

As a person who would charitably be called a bon viveur and more realistically be called a glutton, coffee is by no means the only food or drink that is very important to me, but it is one of the best ones.

I am grateful for coffee.

4- Travel

I feel so lucky at the amount I have been able to travel in my life. Whether that is the opportunity, growing up, to travel all around the UK (my parents borrowed my Grandad's motorhome), or all the countries I have had the chance to work in, many with my wife- I still can't believe that a normal person like me has got to do all this stuff.

I am grateful I had a Grandad who was very well-travelled and was my biggest travel inspiration, grateful that I have a passport that allows me to go to many places, grateful to live in an age of mass travel like the world has never seen before.

Travel has enhanced my life in so many ways- allowing me to learn so much more about the world and my place in it. Plus as I'm a glutton as I mentioned above I've got to eat and drink so many new things too! I've even got to follow in the food footsteps of Anthony Bourdain, one of my absolute heroes.

I am very grateful to everyone who ever showed me kindness when I was in a new and unfamiliar place- you know who you are.

I am grateful for travel.

5- Being born with freedom

I feel very lucky to be born in a society and a family, where I had freedom to be who I wanted to be. Of course like everyone I'm still very much on a journey to learn who I am and what matters to me, but other people have supported not hindered that journey.

Despite the fact that I have loved visiting- and even living in- quite a few countries- I am very grateful to come from and have the chance to live in the UK. Despite the flaws it has, (where doesn't) it is a great place and more liberal than most.

I am grateful for freedom.

6- My health

My health is generally good- and aside from brief patches like everyone, has always been OK.

Without health it is harder to appreciate and take advantage of all the other good things in life.

I feel lucky that I've grown up in a society where I have access to things that have supported my health in all sorts of ways.

I am grateful for my health.

7- The work I get to do

I've got to be involved in some really fun and exciting things over the years. From being an intern in the British Parliament, to working as an assistant language teacher in Japan for two years, to being a CEO in the charity sector and more recently being a freelancer. I've had lots of pinch me moments and lots of things that have allowed me to satisfy my curiosity of learning more about how the world works (and hopefully I've brought a little good into the world along the way).

I am particularly grateful that an increasingly important part of my work has been in coaching. I've already written about how welcoming I find the coaching community to be and how that matters to me as I have traditionally seen myself as a bit of a lone wolf.

I've been on a journey to work out how I can best contribute to the world- it has been fun to find out!

I am grateful for my work.

8- Education

When my parents were growing up, it wasn't that usual for people to go to university in the UK. Within one generation it was and I became the first person in my family to go. Not only that, but I got to go to Cambridge which was an experience all in itself. It is difficult to explain the impact of those three short years (particularly short because we had very short terms). In that time my frame of reference changed dramatically. I'd always been a hard worker and reasonably bright rather than exceptional- all of a sudden I met some of the cleverest people around- and some of them were interested in the same subject as me!

I learned so much- and the academic aspect was only one part of it. Meeting people from different backgrounds to me and participating fully in student life in such a historic place (I was SU President at my College, for example) has left a big impact on me. It was like a dream in some ways.

Since I left university, the chance to educate yourself has expanded in an incredible way too. The education that you can get on YouTube for example, is astounding. The School of Life is one of my favourites.

I am grateful for education.

9- Having a home base

As wonderful as it is to travel, in some ways I am a homebody at heart.

I grew up in Brighton, a wonderful city (one which I'm always surprised so many people from other countries seem to know). I still love it a lot.

Now my adopted home city is Sheffield and I feel very settled here. It is a complete hidden gem as far as I'm concerned. A third of the city is in the Peak District (from where I live, if you just walk straight up the valley, it becomes the Peaks). There is a real sense of community and of caring about other people. I love how industry has shaped the landscape and how the built environment has been repurposed.

In my view (and I speak as someone who has lived in both the Czech Republic and Germany) Sheffield has the best pubs in the world. After a lot of travel, I felt like I wanted to live in a place where I could walk into my local pub and the person behind the bar would know me. I wasn't expecting much, maybe a grunt of acknowledgement. I remember the day when we were showing a friend from out of town our local area in Sheffield. The landlady of my favourite pub in the world, the New Barrack Tavern saw me and gave me a big hug! A clear sign I'm home.

I am also grateful to have always had a roof over my head in my life, which I try not to take for granted.

I am grateful to have a place to call home.

10- The modern world

I am grateful for the modern world, which supports many of the other things I've mentioned.

Perhaps most obviously, not that long ago I would never have been able to share this article with so many people I know- and potentially some strangers too.

I find that a lot of people hate on the modern world, but I'm a big fan. When I look at the lives that people led even up until recently, I don't find them much fun- unless you were very privileged- and maybe not even then.

Of course there are many things wrong with our world and I salute those who try to make it a better place- but that doesn't mean I don't love it, despite those flaws.

I love the endless ingenuity of human beings, I love having devices that allow me to stay connected with people important to me, even if we don't live near each other. I love modern medicine, modern forms of travel, modern education, modern thinking about the equality of people and so much more.

I am grateful for the modern world.

So how about you?

What are you grateful for? Many things, or one big one?

I'd love to hear, please share!

Alex Swallow is a coach, The Influence Expert and author of 'How To Become An Influencer'. A free copy of the book and many tips about growing your influence can be found at www.theinfluenceexpert.com. You can join his online course, 'How To Network' free here. You can also see his viral LinkedIn post '100 LinkedIn Articles- Key Lessons' here.