As I was preparing for this Thanksgiving I started thinking about what it was I had to be thankful for. Of course, I am thankful for my family, as always. This year, I find myself with a great group of friends to be thankful for, as well. Then I started thinking back to what I was thankful for last year.

I was halfway through my junior year and I was just really grateful for the opportunities I had. I was glad I was able to be in a great college, surrounded by great people and supported by my whole family. I felt blessed to be where I was, and I still do. Then I asked myself about next year. I plan to graduate in May and as of right now, I don’t know what I’m going to do after that. Maybe I’ll go to grad school. Maybe I’ll find an internship or start a job somewhere. There’s a lot of things that can happen in a year’s time, so I don’t know where I’ll be next year. But instead of wondering where I’d be, or worrying about what step I was going to take next, I immediately just hoped that I will be grateful for where I am. Whether it be grad school, or an internship, or something else, I really just thought that I’d like to be happy with the choices I end up making.

As I was thinking about all of this I started to wonder how other people would respond to this question. People always ask us where do you see yourself in ten years, or what do you plan on doing next, but I’ve never been asked what I want to be grateful for in the future. It gives us a chance to, instead of worrying about where we’re going to be and how we’re going to get there, just have hope for ourselves. We get the chance to think about what’s going to be good a year from now. When asked what you are thankful for, you don’t first list the stuff you aren’t thankful for, so when asked what you will be thankful for, you forget to worry about all the uncertainties and just blankly state what you hope for.

I typed up my little three question survey, and sent them out to about twenty people, college students and older. A lot of the responses I got were similar to my own. Instead of saying, well I think I’ll be here, or I’ll be happy if this really bad thing doesn’t happen, they all thought about what they wanted in the future. The third question was definitely the most enlightening, but by having everyone answer all three, it showed where someone is in live versus where he or she would like to see himself.

I got answers such as, “I will be thankful for my daughter’s success,” and “I am grateful for the time with my grandfather and sister.” Next year Tori, 21, hopes to say the same. Amanda, a recent college graduate, said that both this year and last year she was thankful for her family and time she has with them. Nicole and Kasi, both juniors in college, said similar things. All three of them hope that next year they can say something similar. Then I found people like Esilona and Whitney. Esilona is a college freshman, whose three answers contained quite a bit of variation. Last year she was glad to have come through a tough time. This year she was grateful for all of the people and things she is blessed to have in her life. Next year she is looking forward to scholarships. Whitney, a sophomore, was thankful she was able to go to college last year. This year she was grateful that she made such good friends when she had been antisocial in the past, and next year she hopes to be able to say that she is thankful for finally finding the right major. Jamie, 19, was grateful for being able to pursue her career goals last year, is now grateful for finding friends that understand and care about her, and looks forward to great opportunities in the future.

It didn’t really surprise me to see the most variation in the answers of underclassmen. They are at a point in their lives that one year can make all the difference, while some of the other people who were interviewed are at a pretty stable point in their lives and just hope that things will stay the same for a while. Bridey, 42, even said that she hopes for an uneventful year. While most answers were friends, family, stability and satisfaction, I did get some answers like food, or “the dog my mom is going to get me for Christmas.” One person told me she will be grateful not to be a felon.

It was really nice to spend my Thanksgiving dinner hearing and reading about everyone’s hopes. This started as a simple interview idea. I never imagined what I would find through this process. It was a great way to spend my holiday, and it really put things into perspective for me.