“The challenges in my life have made me grateful because you can compare what you’ve done in the past to who you are in the present and a lot of the times we discredit ourselves, but you just have to remember all the challenges you’ve overcome to get to where you are.”
Jose
Bright Lights/Young Lives is a special project within our Grateful Voices video series which aims to uplift the personal stories and reflections of young people, aged 16 – 30 years old. The series is made up of five short-form documentaries featuring young adults from a variety of backgrounds talking about what it means for them to live gratefully, how they embody this commitment, how gratefulness was awakened in them, and why they believe it matters and can make a difference in our world. The intention of these stories is to demonstrate the reality and relevance of Grateful Living across a diverse, inclusive continuum, and to share the insights, grateful perspectives, and rich sense of possibility that so many young people hold. In this short video, we hear from Jose Vincente.
Video Transcript
To be grateful is to just be happy with what you have. We always are comparing ourselves to everything else and being grateful is like the opposite of that. It’s just seeing what you have and being okay with that. My name is Jose. I’m 26. I’m from the Philippines and I’m a broker for retirement services.
When my heart is filled with gratefulness, I feel just so happy to be in the moment, and I just forget about all my problems, and it’s just really good. I mean, it doesn’t last forever, but that’s why you just gotta keep working so you can be grateful for more things.
The challenges in my life have made me grateful because you can compare what you’ve done in the past to who you are in the present and a lot of the times we discredit ourselves, but you just have to remember all the challenges you’ve overcome to get to where you are. And it kind of makes you think that, you know, you’re better than all your anxiety and depression, like you did something, so you can do this.
A way I get into the spirit of gratefulness is through playing the piano. Sometimes I can just sit down and that’s when I take time off to just like play and reflect on my day. It’s a good vibe.
Recently my grandma’s been out the door and I just visited her for like a weekend and I was just kind of sad — I like my grandma a lot. I got this tattoo, this is my grandma’s tattoo. Yes. This tattoo is of my grandmother, but in this case it was just a person that was very important to me. I wanted to immortalize her. And she just said, you know, “If you call out for me, I will answer.” I was just grateful to know that maybe if she won’t be there physically…I believed her when she said that, and she’ll be there for me.
I’m grateful. I’m grateful. I’m grateful.
Bright Lights/Young Lives has been executed in honor/memory of the extraordinary life of Julia Burke, who lived her passion for life out loud. Funding for the series came from The Julia Burke Foundation. The videos were produced by Greg Corbin and edited by Brandon Holiday. The Grateful Living Team oversaw the project with grateful hearts.
Visit Grateful Voices to see more stories about living gratefully.
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