What does your mindset look like? Everyday, when you get up, what do you choose to focus on? Are your interactions with people mostly positive, or mostly negative? And if everything you verbally said in a day was written down and read back to you, would you be proud of it? That question really stuck with me this summer, because I realized how often my words came from frustration instead of perspective.

I would not call myself an inherently positive person. Like most people, I have good and bad things going on in my life. The good things I like to share, while the bad things I mainly keep to myself….. or write down in a very public online journal. I’ve always seen myself as a realist. But over the last few months, I do believe my outlook on life has mostly changed.

Over the summer, I made a conscious effort to adopt new habits in an attempt to be a better version of myself & live a healthier lifestyle, generally. I kept a lot of those habits going after my summer job ended, even as I adjusted back to the chaos of law school. Some didn’t stick, and others I’m still figuring out, like eating clean but still going out with my friends. But the one habit that I’ve adopted that was previously the most out-of-character for me was writing down things that I was grateful for every morning. Every morning, while making my to do list for the day, I sit and reflect on the things I am grateful for in my life. Sometimes it’s pretty simple, like a meal I had the day before, while others are more vague, like the feeling I was making a lot of progress in an area of my life. The point was, I have to sit down every morning and do it, and can’t move on until it’s done. And after even a week after starting it, it got pretty difficult! Things that are obvious, like good weather or material possessions I own, I could no longer use. So I sometimes have to get pretty creative and really think about what am I grateful for or what was good in the day before. Last night, my roommates and I hosted people for a pregame for the first time, as our friend was celebrating her birthday party. So, the three things I wrote down this morning were: hosting people for the first time, winning Quiplash, and getting compliments on how clean my room and bathroom were. Those were all small things, but they all made my day good yesterday, so I’m grateful for them today.

In fact, I think it’s pretty easy to come up with a long list with things that you’re grateful for. I made a list of over a hundred things I’m grateful for, from my Oura Ring to the fall air fresheners in my apartment, and realized how many things quietly go right every single day. They’re included at the end of this post, as a reference. So I challenge you to go into your notes app and write out an exhaustive list. You might not get to 101, but at least start with 20. Really think about it. Take a break from reading this and come back when you’re done.

See? Not too difficult. The point is, there’s a lot of good things going on in your life, even if you don’t consciously recognize it in the moment. The same is true for most people. When you slow down long enough to notice what’s actually around you, not the abstract “big picture” stuff, but the little, ordinary wins that slip by, you start to realize that life is never entirely bad or entirely good. It’s a mixture, and most days it’s just about deciding which side you want to focus on.

Practicing gratitude hasn’t made me blind to the hard things; if anything, it’s made me more aware of them. Because when you start listing what’s good, the contrast between what’s still weighing on you becomes a lot clearer. I’m still behind on my study schedule. I’m still accumulating student debt. I’m still wrestling with habits I’ve tried to break for months/years and I still don’t have a job for next summer figured out. All of that is real. I’m not ignoring it. Because gratitude doesn’t erase those problems. It just keeps it from swallowing everything else whole.

That’s what makes graditude different from toxic positivity. I hate toxic positivity. Toxic positivity tells you to ignore the bad and “just focus on the good and be happy.” I remember being told that was the mindset I needed to have, especially during COVID, when there were very real, very scary things that needed addressing. But graditude is different. Gratitude says, “yeah, life’s complicated — but here’s what’s still worth appreciating.” It’s not about pretending the bad doesn’t exist; it’s about refusing to let it define the whole story.

Perspective is hugely important. The longer I’ve practiced this, the more I’ve realized perspective isn’t something you just come up with out of the blue. It’s something you build, daily, with the words you use and the thoughts you choose to focus on. Every day you wake up, you have that choice: to complain, or to notice; to spiral, or to steady yourself.

Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be good. Most days, it’s just about noticing what’s already working. My gratitude list hasn’t made life any easier, but it has made it clearer. And sometimes, clarity is all you need to keep going.

–Colby

Things that I Have Gratitude For (10/12/2025):

1. I’m in Law School
2. I get to live out of the state I grew up in
3. I’m on law review
4. I’m on SBA
5. I’m fairly well known in the law school
6. I’m meeting with a high-profile attorney tomorrow to discuss my law review note topic
7. I’m in a softball league with my friends
8. I’m hosting a dodgeball night on Tuesday for SBA
9. I’m hosting a poker night with my friends, also on Tuesday
10. I recently got glasses to correct to my developing farsightedness
11. My Oura Ring, which I love
12. My Parent’s Insurance plan, which I get to stay on til I graduate from law school
13. My Costco membership
14. My car, Javier, which is still running amazingly despite having 342,000 miles on it
15. My apartment complex, right next to UofL campus
16. The UofL rec center, which I get into for free
17. Repping 225 on Bench
18. Me maintaining my lifts/PR’s even though I’m 20 pounds lighter
19. Being leaner, 220ish pounds, and notably more muscular
20. Being 6’7
21. Hitting 15 consecutive pull ups in one set this last week
22. Ability to do 50 push ups consecutively
23. Me lasting longer on the stair exercise
24. My gym fits
25. My new hydroflask from Target
26. My walks to and from the gym from my apartment
27. My family
28. My roommates, Harrison & Hayden
29. All my friends on my softball team
30. All my friends from back home to still stay in touch with me
31. My extremely comfortable bed
32. My blackout curtains
33. The fall-scented air fresheners that I got for my apartment
34. My Govee Lights!
35. My whiteboard & ridiculous number of markers
36. My apartment being on the first floor
37. My daily supplements I take
38. My morning breakfast
39. My cleaning routine I have every week to reset
40. My ability to journal to reflect/process my emotions
41. My TV’s
42. My A/C unit to keep my room nice and chilly, a perfect 62 degrees
43. Costco Chicken bowls, they are so good
44. Costco Rotessorie chicken + rice, combination that never fails
45. My Protein shakes every morning
46. The new mouthwash I got
47. The whitenoise machine I got to help me sleep
48. My apartment complex being gated
49. The big yellow + black totes from Home Depot I store my extra stuff in
50. UofL Football
51. UofL Basketball
52. The game “Rematch” on my Xbox that I play on with my friends from back home
53. The iOS 26 update. I love it
54. Having electricity (you never realize how good you have it until the power goes out)
55. Card Games
56. Drinking card games
57. O’Sheas
58. Quiplash
59. The concept of Uber
60. Chick-Fil-A
61. Target
62. Spotify
63. Pickles (I no longer hate them)
64. Trader Joe’s Peanut Butter Cups
65. My succulent plant, also from Trader Joe’s
66. A healthy dose of Instagram Reels
67. Stranger Things 5 coming out soon
68. My medicine cabinet bc I’m stocked up in case we get sick
69. The Dollar General right by my apartment
70. Living four blocks away from Churchill Downs
71. Being in good health
72. Great KY fall weather
73. Already being almost halfway through law school
74. My physical textbooks
75. My AirPods still working after five years
76. Hobby Lobby canvas posters
77. Chest Day tomorrow!!
78. Lulu (our dog)
79. Pearl & her puppies
80. Pookie, Minnie, and the Maine Coon (our cats)
81. Earl the Goat
82. My cows back home
83. Growing up on a farm
84. The Hazelnut Orchard
85. The Christmas Tree Farm
86. FaceTiming my parents
87. Good relationship with my parents
88. The country we live in (even if it isn’t perfect all the time)
89. Netflix subscription
90. The green grass
91. Oregon State even though we suck at everything now
92. Potato Soup, the only crockpot meal that I like
93. My new American Vines shirts
94. The iPad I was given
95. Having access to healthy/quality food
96. Car Air Freshener’s
97. The inserts for my shoes
98. Chipotle Chicken bowls
99. My silver chain & penant
100. Louisville restaurants
101. My Alarm Clock