I believe in the combination of acceptance and gratitude.

If I have these two things in my life, I will be happy. If I can accept life, I am off to a good start. I try not to fight things in my life that I cannot control, also known as everything in this world but myself. I am the only person in the world I can change.

Acceptance is the only solution. Since I can only change myself, I must accept everything else as being the way it is. Once I have accepted everything, I can take the next step by being grateful.
I choose to be grateful. I simply can look around and be grateful for a decent cup of coffee, my father’s voice on the phone or a roof over my head.

I am unhappy when I try to change everything. I am unhappy when I complain and take for granted how much I have.

Acceptance and gratitude are simple, but they are not easy. It becomes far too easy to focus on what needs to change, what needs to be better, when in reality what needs to change is me. I need to change my perspective and attitude.

I rarely start with gratitude and acceptance. I normally fight and try to change everything based on how I think it should be.

Once I lose this fight or become tired of fighting, then I begin to accept. I can accept that life could not have happened any other way and I need to be grateful for how things are at this present moment. I might complain about how much it will snow this winter, but I can’t change it. I can accept and be grateful for it, instead of complaining of being a rat in a snow maze.

I can be grateful for how the snow makes everything quiet and how fun it is to crunch along in my boots.

Lauren Moss is currently a sophomore at Mercyhurst College; she describes her favorite aspect of Mercyhurst as its small, close-knit community. She is on the women’s crew team. She is majoring in psychology with a minor in art therapy. With plans to eventually work toward a master’s degree in counseling, she has ambitions of working as a counselor at the collegiate level. She is originally from Piedmont, Okla.