Good morning all! Below is my first giveaway, where you can win $75 in cash or Amazon vouchers! If you can’t get enough of me, please check out my guest post on Daily Money Shot where I talk about how my PIANO was stolen and other robberies, together with a few tips to stay safe while traveling.
Jana, who is the fantastic blogger behind Daily Money Shot is also my mentor for the Bloggers Helping Bloggers program 🙂
Today, I am doing a group post with other bloggers about being thankful. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I know many of you are reflecting on how blessed you are. I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, and I know that I often fail to recognize how truly lucky I am and how great life is, so this is a great occasion to be reminded. Here are a few of the things that I am thankful for.
Health
This is one of my most valuable treasures. Apart from the occasional flu and a nasty tropical disease called bilharzia, I have never been really sick. It has allowed me to do all the things that I have done to this day. I have all four limbs, no asthma, allergies, eczema, or any minor chronic condition that many friends are struggling with. I guess you never realize what a blessing it is to be healthy until you are sick. I try to remember often.
Family
My family is big, so there is always someone to talk to. My grandparents are aging but still sharp and a great comfort to have around. I have the most beautiful little niece, and the coolest 15 year old brother. I should be thankful that he hasn’t turned (yet!?) into an ungrateful teenager. My family is a bit far but they have always accepted my life choices and let me be free, which is the ultimate proof of love.
Freedom
I won’t go all peace and love on you, but I was born in a free country and every day, I wake up and do what I please. Many people aren’t that lucky. I am grateful for the people who gave their lives to fight for my freedom, and also for having lived in peace during my 32 years on Earth. For having known no privations, no fear of invasion, no restrictions to my human rights.
Friends
Like my family, my friends have been awesome and kept up with me during the last 10 years, even though I was away and we would see each other twice a year. The number of friends that I have is small but it is a wonderful lot that never gave up on me and that I know I can count on anytime.
Blogging
I am grateful to have started blogging four months ago. After reading PF, lifestyle and travel blogs for 5 years, I am finding it much more interesting to be part of the blogging world. I have “met” many amazing people who have shared their opinions, helped me with my blog, my finances, my life goals… by seeing life through their eyes, I have opened up to other ways of thinking. Thank you so much for sharing your stories, reading, commenting and supporting mine!
Housing
I am grateful to have a roof over my head, and after two years of traveling, to have a place where I can start to settle down. I am thankful that everything is turning out so fine, so quickly, that I already have electricity and running water, a safe house, and lots of furniture and house items left by the previous owner that I can use instead of spending money on new ones.
Money
I am thankful that money is not a daily issue in my life, that I can put food on the table and pay my bills comfortably, that I can sleep at night without thinking about debt or foreclosure.
I am thankful that I was able to graduate debt-free from college and start investing early, so I could live that amazing lifestyle at such an early age.
Food
Guatemala is a foodie’s paradise. With an eternal spring-like climate, you can find strawberries, watermelons, blackberries or peaches all year long. Don’t even get me started on avocado. The meat is tender and juicy, the eggs are free range, everything tastes like it should, and at such a low price. I am thankful that I can have such a feast on my table every day.
Without further ado, on to the giveaway! You can win a $75 cash prize via Paypal or Amazon gift card, and five $5 cash prizes (Paypal/Amazon) to spend on whatever you like 🙂
Entering is very simple, all you have to do is click here and subscribe to my RSS feed! You can also earn extra entries by doing other tasks below. Good luck!!
Woohoo! I love giveaways! Also very cool theme as far as thankfulness and reflecting on what is important in life.
good luck!
Nice giveaway! Happy early Thanksgiving!
Thanks Holly!
Awesome giveaway Pauline! You’ll have to send some of that fruit our way. 🙂
I met a guy who lived in Alaska for a while, he had all his fruits shipped from California, saying the local shop was just as expensive for tasteless fruits anyway. Maybe a business idea!
Great giveaway Pauline. Along with the giveaway, I think the message is even better. Remember what you have and be thankful for it.
It is something we easily forget. Hopefully a reminder once in a while will help us realize how lucky we are.
Food is a great addition that I missed! 🙂
So many things to be thankful for!
That’s a great list of things to be thankful for. Glad to hear money has not been an issue. A lot of people have that as a problem in their lives.
It is a real blessing, but also a consequence of how I have managed money during my life. I wouldn’t be where I am if I had gone out every night in college or bought a shiny new car at 18. I am grateful I had that hindsight.
Looks like you have a lot of great things to be grateful for! Thanks for the giveaway, and I’m glad we’ve become blog friends!
me too! Anyone healthy and living above poverty level has so much to be thankful for in my book. The problem is we easily forget about it…
I can’t wait to go read about the piano, a story I’m sure I’ll be thankful for.
🙂 if it can save you the experience, then I am the thankful one.
There’s an apparent trend in what most people are thankful for, and it typically includes family and friends. What do you know… after all those are the most important things in life. Thanks for bringing this giveaway to us!
The best things in life are not things! When you realize how little you need, then you can truly be happy.
Your point is well taken. This time of the year we should focus on what we have to be thankful for.
In my book, if we have our health, friends and family, we are in pretty good shape!
That is very true. By having too much, we only want more.
I am very thankful for my family especially my son and dil and my sister. I am also very thankful that even though both my husband and I are on disability, we can still live a fairly normal life.
Those are great things to be thankful for, family is so important.
Very thankful that my husband is a very handy man and has made our home even more beautiful and cozy with his remodeling ideas.