If You’re Feeling Low, Remember These 5 Things To Feel 10% Better.

Your daily dose of gratitude and mindfulness in less than 4 minutes

1. You’ve Won The Lottery

I haven’t shared this widely, but I’ve actually won the lottery 3 times.

You might be thinking: Michael’s rich.

And you would be right. But not in the way that you think.

Here are the 3 lotteries I’ve won:

1. Parental lottery: Being born to caring parents in a safe household

2. Geographic lottery: Parents deciding to move to Australia from Singapore

3. Genetic lottery: I am blessed with great health and the ability to learn

Most of the opportunities and success I’ve had in life were not of my own making. If one of those lotteries didn’t happen. My life would be wildly different.

You’ve also won the lottery, you might just not appreciate it yet.

2. Most Of The World is Dead And You Are Alive

Most of the world is dead. What a grim thought. There are over 7.5 billion people alive right now and 107 billion who have lived throughout history.

James Clear says it best:

Over the centuries, these billions of people have tried things, failed, learned, and tried differently. Sometimes, they found new solutions. And when you are born, you get to inherit the insights they learned by trial and error.
The cumulative lessons of those 107 billion people have been passed down to you. It is the greatest gift you will ever receive. We are smart not because of our individual genius, but because of our collective knowledge.

As the historian, Niall Ferguson noted, “The dead outnumber the living fourteen to one, and we ignore the accumulated experience of such a huge majority of mankind at our peril.”

Do you know what Steve Jobs envies most about you? That you are alive. Use that privilege to create new things, explore your passion and smell the flowers in your garden.

3. The World Is Safer and Richer Than Any Other Time In History

You might not know it with the current media cycle, but we are living in the best periods of human history. Even with a global pandemic and ongoing racial injustices occurring across the world, there has never been a better time to be alive.

I lost my grandfather last year. He was 89 years old and lived a long and fulfilling life surrounded by friends and family.

He was born in 1931.

In his life:

He was raised during the Great Depression and grew up in poverty
Witnessed Britain occupying Singapore
Second World War
Cold War
Vietnam War
Enjoyed seeing Singapore develop from a 3rd world country to a 1st world country in less than 50 years.
9/11
The outbreak of SARS throughout Asia
Global Financial Crisis
The outbreak of COVID-19 across the world.

I can only imagine the hardships he had to endure throughout his life. While challenging, my life is safer, wealthier and healthier.

4. You Are Loved

You are loved by your parents, even if they aren’t here anymore.

You are loved by your partner and friends.

You are loved by your pets. Maybe more than you love yourself.

People love you. Remember you aren’t alone.

5. You Always Have A Choice

Let me describe my 26th birthday to you:

My relationship with my partner ended.
My parents sold the family house.
I had to look for a rental house.
My parents finalized their divorce.
A lockdown in Melbourne was announced and subsequently extended.

This all happened within 1–2 weeks of my birthday. Some of them even happened on the same day. One of these things happening is enough to break someone.

I could have cried (which I did), I could have gotten angry (which I did) and I could have played the victim (which I did, sometimes). But mostly, I couldn’t help but sit back and laugh at my circumstances.

Even as I am writing this out I have a smile on my face.

Life is never what you planned. But you always have a choice to interpret the circumstances you are placed in. Almost every situation has a silver lining. You just need to look for it.

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