Grateful But Not Complacent

I think I finally get it.
   After years of working for The Man, being a corporate drone, living and working in a manner I never thought I would just for the sake of a paycheck, I think at long last I understand how to get by. How to make it through yet another day doing something I don't want to do so that I can spend my free time working towards my real goal.
   I need to be grateful. But not complacent.
   I've heard 'be grateful' a lot, off and on, but I never really got it. Sure, I understand the word, I get the concept, but the real meaning never hit me until recently. Be glad of what you have, not your things but your family and friends and situation, because there are billions of people in the world who have it waaaaay worse than you. Maybe it's because my father died and I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do with the rest of my own life, or maybe it's because I've been 'between assignments' for a while. Maybe both. But I get it. I don't know any other way to explain gratitude than this: you fall asleep with a smile on your face.
   But just because I'm grateful doesn't mean I'm satisfied with things the way they are. Working for someone else sucks, and there's no way it's ever not going to suck. I'm grateful to have a job but that doesn't mean those people own me, or that I intend to stay there for the rest of my life. Having free will - if you believe in that sort of thing - means that I'm under obligation to make the best of my situation, and to help improve others' lot if I can.
   Grateful but not complacent. I get it now.


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