Morning run thoughts: When gratitude disappears, dissatisfaction takes its place.

There’s a growing belief, especially among younger generations, that prosperity is something previous generations enjoyed but today’s generation has missed out on. It’s a message we often hear from politicians, the media, and even colleges and universities. I couldn’t disagree more.

Despite the challenges we face, I believe we’re living in the most prosperous time in human history. In fact, I think we’ve become so used to prosperity that we no longer appreciate it.

Think about it. A hundred years ago, simply meeting basic needs took a tremendous amount of time and effort. People worked longer hours, and everyday chores required far more physical labor. Preparing meals often meant growing food, preserving it, carrying water, and cooking without modern appliances. Washing clothes could take hours. Heating a home required much more work than adjusting a thermostat.

Today? We can have groceries delivered to our front doors without leaving the couch. We can order a hot meal from our phones and have it delivered in minutes. In the late 1800s, American workers often worked 60 hours or more per week. Today, the average across all employed workers is closer to 35. And that doesn’t even include the countless hours of household work we’ve saved through modern technology.

We have heated and air-conditioned homes, reliable electricity, refrigeration, modern medicine, and transportation that allows us to travel in hours what once took days or weeks. We carry computers in our pockets that give us instant access to more information than previous generations could have imagined. We can video chat with someone on the other side of the world. Diseases that once killed millions can now be prevented or treated.

Many things we consider basic needs today would have been incredible luxuries to even the wealthiest people 100 years ago. And yet, somehow, we’ve convinced ourselves we’re missing out.

I’m not suggesting today’s problems aren’t real. Housing costs, inflation, financial struggles, and other challenges deserve attention. Every generation has faced problems, and ours is no different. But having problems doesn’t mean we aren’t experiencing prosperity.

We spend so much time comparing ourselves to people who have more that we forget how many people throughout history would have considered our everyday lives an incredible blessing. And here’s another thought: What if the life you’re complaining about today is the same life you were praying for ten years ago?

The career. The family. The home. The health. The opportunities. The freedom. How many things you once dreamed about have become so normal that you’ve stopped appreciating them?

There’s nothing wrong with wanting more or working hard to build a better life. In fact, I encourage it! But there’s a big difference between working toward a better future and failing to appreciate the life you already have.

As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, maybe we should spend a little less time thinking about everything we don’t have and a little more time being thankful for everything we do. You can be grateful for what you have while working toward what you want. And maybe, just maybe, you’re already living somebody else’s dream.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who once said:

“An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity.”

I’d argue we’ve experienced so much prosperity that we’ve stopped being grateful for it. When gratitude disappears, dissatisfaction takes its place.