How To Be Thankful Even If You Spent Thanksgiving Overseas

Posted on Dec 11 2013 - 11:11am by Tiffany Matthews

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful chance for you to spend quality time with your family, whom you rarely see since you live miles and miles apart. Sometimes, however, there are circumstances beyond your control that make you miss one of the most anticipated holidays of the year. These reasons may include work or lack of finances. But just because you are overseas, doesn’t mean that you can’t be thankful. Thanksgiving after all is a time when you reflect on the many things that you are grateful for. Here are some things that will lift up your spirits even if you were far away from home on thanksgiving.

You’re Employed

It sucks that you’re working on thanksgiving day in another continent that doesn’t celebrate this event. What’s worse is that you’re still in probationary status, which means you can’t even take some time off from work to prepare a celebratory dinner. You’re ready to sulk and spend the day with a cloud of doom hanging over your head or you can choose to look at the bright side of things. If you choose the brighter outlook, you’ll realize that you are lucky to be employed when so many others out there don’t even have jobs. There are so many fresh graduates with bright hopes who end up jaded because two years after graduation, they are still stuck in the unemployment queue, which seems to get longer each year. There are worse things than spending thanksgiving overseas, so be thankful that you have a job.

You Were Able to Travel

If you are a travel bug then you should be thankful that you were able to celebrate thanksgiving in another place. Every time I end up in a new location, I am always eager to explore the unknown and anticipate where I will go next. If you’ve spent every thanksgiving with your family, spending it overseas will be like a breath of fresh air, something new that you haven’t experienced yet. Yes, it’s different and probably not as happy as it would have been if you were home. Still, you can look at it this way, you will anticipate thanksgiving with your family next year even more.

You and Your Family is in Good Health

We all know that health is wealth and this is why we worry incessantly when we are far away from home. Knowing that your family is in good health is a burden off your chest, which will make you worry less. Be thankful for that clean bill of health and keep in touch always so you will know how they are and they too will know that you are well. Since thanksgiving is a time when family gathers, you can place a video call to them during thanksgiving weekend. To make the distance even smaller, video conference systems like Polycom can make you feel like you are just conversing in the same room with your family. There are worse things than spending thanksgiving overseas so always be mindful of the things you should be thankful for.

Photo Credit: Flickr/martha_chapa95

About the Author

Based in San Diego California, Tiffany Matthews is a professional writer with over 5 years of writing experience. She also blogs about travel, fashion, and anything under the sun at wordbaristas.com, a group blog that she shares with her good friends. In her free time, she likes to travel, read books, and watch movies. You can find her on Twitter as @TiffyCat87.