Being Blessed is a State of Mind

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Bluebird Chic ambassador Kimi Coopet of Oh Hello Photo! shares her unique perspective on making the choice to live a blessed life.

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I truly believe that being blessed is a state of mind. Why? Because being thankful for what I have is more beneficial than sulking about what I don’t have.

I try not to focus too much on things I can’t change and focus on the things I can, but that hasn’t always been the case. I have always had a chipper attitude but I, like everyone else, have wanted for more at some point or another.

Social media can be both a blessing and a curse. While it is an amazing tool that connects and inspires, it can also make you want for things you didn’t even know you wanted. And it can make us envious of things many would only dream of.

People aren’t more blessed than me, we are just blessed in different ways.

– Kimi Coopet

My outlook, however, has changed so much (for the better) over the last two years after I traveled to Honduras in the Summer of 2017 for a mission trip. Since then I have gone two more times, once in Spring of 2018 and again earlier this year. 

While I was there I worked mostly in a little community outside of San Pedro. My time there was spent doing building projects like putting on new roofs and building septic tanks.

I worked directly with the people these projects would be affecting and I watched many peoples lives change while I was there.

I will admit my Spanish isn’t great but we were still able communicate despite our language barrier.

Everyone was always so thankful for the work that was being done. They blessed us with fresh coconuts from the tree on the property. They made us lunch while we worked, which I desperately miss because the food is so good. They didn’t have much to spare but did because they felt they needed to share their blessings with us. 

In America, we don’t have to think about having to bring sheets to the hospital when giving birth. In Honduras, if you don’t bring them, you don’t have them. You also share a room with several other women. Some still pregnant. Some who had their babies. And some who have sadly lost theirs but are still sharing the same room, with the others.

While on my last trip, there was a mother who had just lost her baby. In her arms, she was holding the baby of another new mother who was getting an exam from her doctor. It was both heartbreaking and heartwarming to watch as she rocked the baby. She cried and smiled the entire time. Her heart was broken but she knew she could be a blessing to someone else and she was.

I was truly humbled by the people I met while in Honduras. To have so little but to still be grateful for the things you have is inspiring. They truly saw the world in a different way than I did.

When I came home from my first trip my life was undeniably changed. I joke that my life is in two parts; Before Honduras and After Honduras.

I wanted to continue “counting my blessings” after my first trip so I bought a notebook. Each day I would write why I was thankful and why I am blessed, even if I wasn’t exactly feeling that way.

Every once in a while I will randomly open it and read a few. Sometimes they make me laugh. Like this one from Spring 2018:

“I am thankful for rain because I got soaked and no one could tell I haven’t washed my hair in days.”

Sometimes they are sad:

“Today I am thankful for the 15 years I knew PopPop. I am thankful I had the last 18 months with him in Minnesota. I am thankful my kids got to know him. I am thankful for the special bond he had with KK. We will all miss him so much.”

Almost 2 years of blessings I have written down in this notebook.

And I have come to realize that other people aren’t more blessed that me, we are all just blessed in different ways.