It's so easy to be grateful when everything is going right, when everything, at last, just falls into place like everyone said it would, like you kept on telling yourself it would. But, being grateful is not always easy, because life isn't always good. It can be messy and full of failures and stress, especially when you're in college trying to balance everything and on top of that, your laptop breaks, it's your fault and you've three essays to write.

That's where I was last week, for nearly three weeks actually. And looking back at it, it wasn't such a terrible three weeks. Yes, it was stressful and tiring because I spent way more time in the library than I'd ever wanted. But despite the stress, I knew that coming home, people would constantly give me a hug and offer up their own laptops. And I'm lucky enough to go to a university where I do have access to computers, even if signing in and out gets really old really fast.

And when, at last, I got that email from Apple that my laptop was ready to be picked up, I couldn't have been happier. Because at that moment, everything was alright, and no I'm not just talking about a laptop, but it was a symbol of all of the things that were looking up.

B E G R A T E F U L

And all at once the feeling enveloped me completely, I thought about how incredibly blessed I am to have had those three weeks of hell because they made me look at the people I just take for granted and really look at them, really love them. I want to do that more, love people unapologetically and be grateful, always. Because we're all a little stressed, all a little crazy, and we could use some more gratitude, just to remind ourselves how much good is here, now, all the time.

And as I collected my little machine that I'm typing on now last Thursday, I thought about how lucky I am to have this little machine to type on, and how desperately I depend on it. I'm hoping to become a little less dependent on it, to be a little more productive and stare at a screen a little less, and look up at the incredible humans around me a little bit more.