Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, especially to those among you who find it hard to feel grateful this year.

Being Italian, I never get to celebrate this day, and it is so inherently North American that it would be even silly to do it.

However, just like every other year, this holiday got me thinking.

What would I say thanks for right now, if I were asked around a table? What can you be thankful for when you have gone through something terrible?

I am not at all thankful for this past year, because even though it had some good things in it, the pain I went through goes far beyond all the good that happened.

I would gladly give back every accomplishment, every good moment and trade it for what could or should have been.

But as much as I would love to, I cannot unlive what happened.

The only way to go forward, the only way to find a hint of gratefulness for what has been, is to gain the most from what the experience you went through left you. Let your new scars become your new strengths.

All this grief has taught me something. Thanks to it, I have learned to drastically re-evaluate my priorities. I have learned to let go of petty things and to love the little things just that bit more. I have learned that destiny has its way no matter what you do, and for this reason, it is better to live more and think less.

For these lessons, I am thankful.

And I’m also grateful I still have hope.