In just a few days, I’ll be sixty years old, and what is most surprising to me is that I’m actually excited about it! If you told me twenty years ago that I would be happy about turning sixty, I would have not believed you. I remember a time not so long ago, it seems, when I thought “thirty” was old.

The sobering reality of crossing the threshold separating middle age and the golden years has kindled an introspective reflection of my life’s journey: what it has been up until now, what it is presently, and what I want it to be. All things considered, it has been a wonderful life.

I’m sure my life has not been that much different than most anyone else’s. There have been ups and downs, gains and losses, joy and pain. It is “Life,” after all, and no one ever said it was going to be easy. Out of all the lessons I’ve learned, the most painful ones shaped my character the most—and for the better, I think.

I certainly have regret about some things and wish I could do them over. But to say that I wished that I had never experienced loss or pain would be to discount all the growth that happened as a result. In retrospect, it was going through tough times that really tested my mettle. We truly are stronger than we think.

Thank God that wisdom comes with age and experience! What a relief it is to finally be able to be comfortable in my own skin and to realize that things that used to matter a lot when I was younger–like others’ opinions of me, popularity, and physical appearance–have given way to more important things like good health, emotional well-being, and true friendships.

What has abetted my positive attitude, I believe, is posting something for which I’m grateful on one of my Pinterest boards, Epic Gratitude…365 Days, One Day at a Time every day. I didn’t come up with the idea; towards the end of last year, I read an article about a woman who took a photograph of something every day that she was grateful for, and that appealed to me very, very much.

It came on the heels of being really annoyed with some people on Facebook (this was when I had an account) who made a gratitude post every day in November, as though the holiday of Thanksgiving slapped them upside the head, reminding them of all their blessings. I cynically wondered if they would have done it otherwise, and doubted it.

So far I’ve posted two hundred and one photos of things that I’m grateful for. Very few of them are “the usuals:” family members, a roof over my head, a job I love, a reliable car. Most of them, though, are photographs of things that I don’t think I was aware of previously, like my town having miles and miles of sidewalks so that I can take my daily walks safely; or the carton of eggs one of my foreign students gave me in appreciation for being her ESL teacher; or the replacement hinge on my car door that prevented it from flinging wide open every time I opened it. I even took a picture of a full roll of toilet paper, because a family in a civic club I belong to had hit such hard times that they were down to their last one.

More than anything, this project has made me aware of what is around me, and that in and of itself is a blessing. It has made me realize that I’ve taken so many things for granted all my life, and it has made me feel truly, truly blessed and so thankful. I have been made aware that it really is the little things that mean a lot.