Thanksgiving in the U.S. is only three weeks away. It’s a time when Americans give thanks for what we have, but do we ever give thanks for what we don’t have—things we may have wanted but didn’t get?

There can be exponential benefits to do so. I'll explain.

Just as my hope started to fade, I gained some traction in an interview process with an insurance company. When the hiring leader asked for my salary requirements—and agreed to discuss them with HR—I indulged my not-so "quiet quitting" fantasy.

The next week, I received an email that the funding for the position had been pulled. I was devastated I didn’t get the job. 

The irony is it was a job much like the one I’d left years earlier.

That’s when I faced the truth: I was settling when I moved to nonprofit and again by trying to return to corporate. I was settling because I was afraid to make the changes needed to get somewhere new.

I found the courage to launch my coaching and therapy practices because I didn’t get what I wanted. As the Dalai Lama said, it was a wonderful stroke of luck.

I share my gratitude about it in the video below I posted a few years ago on Thanksgiving Day (when I had a little less curly hair).

Interested? Book a complimentary coaching session here, and for those of you celebrating, have a very happy Thanksgiving holiday.