Even the stockiest, strength-trained Hurculean Gents have days that are heavier to carry on through than others, those days that feel bleak and hopeless – they roll around for us all. One of the surest ways to clear the pseudo-depressive dust from the table is to practice gratefulness for what makes each day another opportunity to change the game. You’re only ever one decision away from a completely different future.
Mum always told you to be grateful for what you had as a kid. But it’s not her job to teach you how to be grateful for what you have now as an adult, let alone as a man. As a Gent and Scholar, a man who acts through knowledge and wisdom, this guide will be no more than a reminder of what you have at your disposal today…
A Gentleman and Scholar is grateful…
…for another day where he can prove to himself that he deserves the future he demands.
…for his ability to see his vision, to set goals, to create task lists and to tick them off himself.
…and for his ability to enjoy a day without doing a goddamn thing.
He is grateful for the biology, experiences, sicknesses and hardships that have shaped his unique mind.
…for his ability to create genuinely of himself.
…and for the poor bastards who attempt to copy or replicate him.
He is grateful for where he lives and the circumstances he’s in (and not in).
…he’s grateful for his parents, their strengths and their shortcomings for he is partly a product of what they were and what they were not.
…and for the unique qualities of his face, not for their appeal or lack thereof, but for allowing him to be recognised, remembered, loved and feared.
He is grateful for the lessons he’s learned from every mistake, injury, injustice and pain he’s suffered.
…for his capacity to persevere and intensify in the face of adversity.
…and for his gradually more disciplined ability to disconnect from the adversities that do not serve him.
He is grateful for the empathy he has at his disposal to apply when people act inappropriately towards him, disrespect him or attempt to cause him harm.
…for his ability to rationalise and prioritise before acting.
…for his consistency when it’s needed.
…and for his impulsiveness when it’s not.
He is grateful for the seeds of opportunity he has sown before to allow the reaping of rewards today; be they strengths or wisdom, salary or sales.
…and he’s grateful for the foresight that seeds sown today may grow into the metaphorical forest from which the raw materials will build his empire.