Part 1: Gratitude as a Strategy for Longevity

Full disclosure, if you’ve read the “About” section, you know I retired last year after a career with FEMA and the federal government. I worked across the country assisting disaster survivors in community recovery, often relocating for up to a year at a time.

This experience quickly shifts from seeming like a paid adventure to realizing how much you sacrifice—your home becomes just a storage unit, your health suffers from frequent eating out, and maintaining a stable medical routine becomes impossible. Friendships feel spread out and disconnected without a true neighborhood. These challenges put life into perspective and highlight why the core of this story is not my travels, but how an “attitude of gratitude” can transform health, happiness, and longevity, even amid disruption and loss.

I’ll share a story that highlights the difference gratitude makes. After a devastating Alaskan wildfire—caused by two drunks ignoring burn orders—homes and personal belongings were lost. Most affected locals were “mushers,” people who raise dogs for the Iditarod. Many scrambled to save both their belongings and dozens of sled dogs during the evacuation.

The first family I met during assessments profoundly reinforced the power of gratitude, especially after loss. The “O’ Connells,” in their 60s, had lost everything—home, belongings, vehicles—to the fire and were living in a tent. Yet they welcomed us warmly, thanked us for our help, and reassured us that they would rebuild together as a community. Remarkably, they had also lost their only son to cancer the week before. Their resilience and gratitude, even in hardship, left a lasting impression on me, symbolizing how gratitude fuels endurance and well-being in the face of adversity.

Later that morning, contrasting attitudes stood out even more. In a community where most homes were destroyed, one homeowner—whose house survived with minor damage—demanded compensation for the loss of trees, focusing on the loss of the property’s aesthetic value. The disparity between her demands and the O’Connells’ gratitude illustrates how our mindset during hardship shapes personal outcomes, the nature of our recovery, our lives, and, I believe, our longevity.

In Part 2, you’ll find some things the “experts” say about having and maintaining an “attitude of gratitude” and its impact on our lives and our prospects for longevity….

To be continued…..