Antidote:
An antidote is a substance which can counteract a form of poisoning.“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh“Sometimes life knocks you on your ass… get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
This is hereby our Gratitude Journal. All expressions of gratitude (I know I have many, including the blue sky outside my window) welcome. It’s worth a try! Thanks for the idea, OMG!
“OMGheesstillanamerican” starts our journal:
Maybe what we need to do is start a Gratitude thread where we share the things we are grateful for in our lives no matter how small they might seem. Maybe calgary411 or somebody else who can post new threads could do that for us. Negativity is contagious but so is positivity.
My gratitude list goes like this:
1) My husband has a great job which means I don’t have to go out and get a job even when my business is not doing well. I can ride out the storm.
2) My son is working and contributing to the family’s finances which also helps. He rarely drinks, doesn’t do drugs, or hang out with skanky girls. He’s a good boy and I thank God for that.
3) We live in a beautiful large home in a small town which is something I always wanted.
4) I’m still young enough to make a big splash in the business world before I retire.
5) Sooner or later the Americans will come to their senses and even if they don’t we’ll find a way to deal with this mess. My son and I are not Americans so we’ll just rearrange our finances.
Excellent. I am grateful for my faith, my wife and our cats.
This is a nice idea. I am grateful for the recovery I’m making from what I think was a stress-induced bout of extreme vertigo. I have a greater appreciation for my physical health – that I now know is often directly related to our emotional.
The gratitude post is important because this is an aspect easily overlooked. I don’t just mean being grateful in spite of what the Americans are doing, but grateful for what we gain as a result. I live in Poland and we often say that there is nothing bad that happen from which some good doesn’t also come. Poland has a tough history and Poles speak with moral authority when it comes to hard knocks.
One compelling thing is a new found appreciation for freedom. It had never crossed my mind that I could ever land in jail until I heard Douglas Shulman threatening prison time for anyone who did not join OVDI and hand over their life savings. It may be an absurd claim, but America has 7 times the per capita inmate population as Europe and the threat coming from a powerful country that loves to lock’em up can be scary indeed. So last winter when I was skiing in Western Poland I suddenly found myself just celebrating the simple joy of being free to choose this slope or that; the simple joy of being free. I appreciate this gift more now that I have contemplated losing it.
Also, I have been fairly successful in my career, which makes it easy to look with contempt at others who have been less so. The threat of losing everything to thieves a continent away made me realize my own vulnerability and that others sometimes lose everything due to many causes beyond their control – illness, accident, simple lack of opportunity – all sorts of causes. Now each morning when I pass the security guards near my flat I greet them with respect; I hold open the door for the cleaning lady at work – I realize much more now that each of these people could be me and I could be them. I am reminded to treat people with the respect all humans deserve. These are just a couple of the many things I have learned through this unfortunate attack by America and I hope that even when it is over, the things I have learned will remain a part of my approach to life.
That was inspiring and beautiful, Sad4America. Thanks so much for sharing what comes from your heart!
I am grateful to my Canadian family for not jettisoning me – the toxic US person I was sentenced to be by the United States, and the CBT/FATCA obsessed IBS reader that I became. I hope that they can eventually understand and forgive the amount of time spent with the blue screen, reading and gathering scraps as they appear. I am grateful for my cat/s who never judge, who kept me company when everyone else was asleep, and who don’t give a lump of cat—- for the United States, and its extraterritorial manifestations.
I am grateful to IBS and my fellows here for the unique support, company, understanding, information and advocacy that exists nowhere else and which helped me through the worst of many sleepless nights and dark days as I tried to cope with dragging my US national origin burden and ‘US taxable person’ shackles.
I am grateful for my garden, and for Gaia and all her children.
I, too, am grateful for many things, including:
1) the Alberta blue sky and spring around the corner;
2) a husband soon to be back from warmer climes – may he still support this strange new person his wife has become – I’m glad we can give each other space we need;
3) my two children, safe and sound in Canada
– I’m thankful that my daughter has returned to Canada from the US and now has a home-grown business that suits her and will enrich only Canadian tax coffers, and
– I’m thankful my son lives in such a supportive and caring home and work environment that gives him a degree of independence he needs to grow, while his family can still appreciate his family visits – he’s prepared for the next seamless steps when I am no longer here to advocate for him;
4) for this community of like-minded so-called ‘US Persons’ for whom I have so much respect — generosity in sharing of your knowledge, your time, your values in justice, as well as what you’ve given me in the support I’ve needed to stay sane;
5) for the country I’ve chosen to live in and raise my children in, and letting me be part of a caring society – I haven’t lost faith that this country will find its way to make sure we all enjoy the same rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but I realize it will be because of the fight that takes place on this site and others for what is right;
6) for my family still in the US; I’m sorry what affects me also so profoundly affects you.
Enough for right now (to be continued), except for:
7) my four-legged FATCA therapy dog: adopted Lucy, the Lab mix stray who keeps me more grounded than any other creature.
I am also grateful for my improving health. I had to get rid of my US citizenship and then the stress and burden was lifted. Then I could investigate the things that were making me sick and realized that I was falling into the diabetic lifestyles that is so common in my family. I have thus adopted a low-carbohydrate high-fat (LCHF) Paleo (whole foods, gluten and wheat free) lifestyle and am feeling much better.
I am grateful for your improving health as well, Petros…so that you can continue to take good care of this site so important to all of us here. Thank you for the platform you’ve provided and maintain! Thanks also to those others who helped you do that and continue to be the background part of what makes Isaac Brock work.
I’m grateful that I’m being provided with the opportunity of cleansing America from my system. The more that I remove America from my life, the better things become. Family, friends, work, hobbies, culture, language, etc. is all better as a non-US person. Douglas Shulman and friends helped me to realize that! I was wasting so much time for America for all the wrong reasons and with no gain. The threats, discrimination, harassment, disinheritance, greed, insults and hostility coming from America, which was made more visible through FATCA, helped me to realize that I just don’t need all of that nonsense in my life and am better without it.
I am grateful for this website that inspires me daily. I am grateful to be north of the 49th. I am grateful that my child will grown up in Canada and be Canadian in all the ways that matter even if his finances will be perpetually convoluted until he is an adult. I am grateful that all this stress has gotten me writing again, one the greatest joys in my life aside from my child. I am grateful for the Charter: I know my rights, and I shall fight for them without fear.
@SwissPinoy, Here is what I wrote on Facebook so all my US friends and family could see: I am personally grateful that I am no longer a United States citizen under the taxation regime of Barack Obama and the IRS. I am free of the shackles of citizenship based taxation and not subject to FATCA, the worst law nobody’s ever heard of.
I have gratitude for all the wonderful experiences living on the other side of the Pond for 20+ years. Most Homelanders and only dream of taking this adventure. Fortunately for me I’ll be crossing the Pond again soon and take on board the FATCA battle over there properly.
Once our generation of ex-pats turn their backs on the US, I suspect the number of US ex-pats will start to drop when they factor in the IRS hassle in future. The US a country of immigrants with insular citizenry who make their decisions solely on what they hear from the US media because no frees totally free to leave. Scary.
I am grateful for longer days and the coming of spring. I’ve been out on my front lawn today shovelling snow onto the road to get rid of all traces of this winter.
I am grateful for meeting Calgary 411 she’s a warrior and an inspiration.
I am grateful to all who post on the Isaac Brock Society. I appreciate your humour, your intelligence,and your expertise.
I live in Canada! Seriously. Grateful. It’s not something I would have dreamed a possibility a decade ago when as I watched the run up to the POTUS election and really wondered if I could stomach being an American for the rest of my life.
I was never a good fit down south and though I concede that Canada is not the utopia that those who imagine themselves liberal in the States believe it is, I am hopeful here and can see a better future for myself and my child than I could ten years ago.
And as Calgary411 points out, the sky over Alberta is magnificent. Have never seen such blues and the clouds awe me near daily. I take pictures of the sky all the time.
My family is happy and healthy. We live in a wonderful community. I am (supposedly) going to hear about taking my citizenship test soon and with a bit of good fortune spend my first Canada Day as a citizen this year!
Life is pretty good.
I’m grateful for my husband, who not being US tainted can not wholly understand how I feel still try’s to be as supportive as he can. I’m also very thankful I have an understanding doctor who is doing all she can to support me medically as I try and work thru my OMFG moments.
I am grateful for my family who tells me all the time… lord… u are getting crazy… stop… all my nieces & nephews who love me despite the fact they don’t understand me… the weight I lost because of this nonsense & no diet has really worked for me & someone actually said… stop… u are getting too thin.. never thought I would hear that in my lifetime again…lol… That my niece & nephew bathed each other with the toilet brush with the toilet water & their mother was home to deal with it. See little things in life should make everyone happy… we can not make this our lives… We only live once… a light will eventually appear & we will be able to deal with it… This site & everyone here allows me to see… I am not alone… there are others… thank u all
No Alberta blue skies here but they placed a full sun on the weather site for Tuesday. (We call them sun carrots.) I’m grateful my husband and I are still together despite a blow-up weeks back. (He’s the passive one; I’m the cantankerous one.) And I’m grateful for Brock … of course! I hoped two years ago I would find a solution here for both of us. I think, if all goes well, my husband’s situation will be solved. Mine will never be but I’m beginning to feel that I will be able to live with some uncertainty. I’ll be looking forward to the real Spring (May? — maybe?) when the neighbourhood therapy cat can come out and pay me a visit.
Grateful for the small and big things alike. And the fact that it’s the equinox in a few days!
I am grateful for all the other crappy things that happened in my life pre-FATCA. If it wasn’t for those experiences, I would be start raving mad.
I am only half joking because I really do feel like my particular path has lead me to where I am now, and I look back on some of the stuff that used to make me think I was particularly hard done by, and now reflect on it in a very different light. So, I am grateful for breaking a personal growth barrier that might never have happened if I’d never been FATCA’d.
In addition, I am grateful for many other things such as my health, 3 amazing children, food on the table, and the new puppy whose company has been very therapeutic
I am grateful for the IBS, all its members, and especially for Calgary 411, Petros, Badger and Pacifica without whose help it would have been quite impossible for me to have obtained my very recently arrived and backdated CLNs! It was a long tough ride and it takes a big load off our minds here.
Hey woofy,
A big woooooooof to you! We’ve missed you around here. I’ll never forget your congratulations to me! So, my turn for congratulations on getting your backdated CLN. Thanks for your kind words — and your many wooof’s. You made my frown turn upside down many a time.
From a comment earlier today (the wisdom of USCitizenAbroad), gratitude we can share, I think. Many of us who meet here are fragile emotionally in the up’s and down’s we experience in this. I hope keeping this in mind will help you as much as they help me each day:
… the good news.
– You do NOT live in the U.S. You live in Canada. You are in a situation that any sane person would dream to be in. Sure, Canada has its problems. But, lurking beneath all the problems is a basic assumption of fairness, justice and decency. [AND WE’LL WORK ON THOSE VALUES NOT BEING DASHED]
– I repeat you live in Canada. In addition to the good things I just mentioned, you have the benefit of the tax treaty. Canada will not collect FBAR penalties. Furthermore, (I don’t have stats on this), but I suspect that a large number of U.S. citizens here are also Canadian citizens (giving them political power).
– I once met a man who had escaped from another repressive government. He wanted his children to be well educated – commenting that, the only thing that a government couldn’t take from you was your knowledge/education. It’s not the only thing they can’t take.
– They can’t take your attitude, or your capacity to tell right from wrong. Unless of course you let them!
However hard, together we can work toward our government not being able to deem us second-class persons in Canada (and the rest of the world) — to do everything we can to not give them that power over us.
I am really grateful to be alive.
2 years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. What people like to tell me is the “good” kind because it’s “curable.”
Do tell. I had three tumors and it had spead to my lymph nodes. The word my doctor used (and continues to use) is “treatable”. I was very close to checking out but the excellent French healthcare system got me into treatment FAST.
And here I am 2 years later and I’m still breathing. I can walk, travel, write, clean the living room, garden, go to church, laugh with friends and a thousand other things that I just don’t take for granted anymore.
I’m not particularly grateful to have cancer but I am grateful that I have today. And the rest I will take one day at a time.
@Victoria – so true and I am so grateful for your blog!
I’m grateful for the friends I have made in Canada and around the world through Brock, Sandbox and Twitter.
Two years ago, I did not believe it was possible to have friends I had never met.