Thriving - the 25%

# Chapter 310

Only 25% of the world’s population is thriving according to Gallup, the bulk of the population is struggling (59%) and there are way too many people having the worst possible life (17%). The guys I got these stats from go on to say that a full third of Americans have/are showing signs of clinical anxiety and/or depression. One Third!! Holy smokes! Of course depending on how they are calculating these matters you could have a wealthy person who has no physical needs unmet, having the worst possible life because their child was just tragically killed in a car wreck. Or a homeless person who has no physical needs being appropriately met, feeling like they won the lottery because of what is going on inside their head, or a middle class person who has just found out that their spouse has cancer, or a middle class person who just lost everything in bankruptcy. All our stories can go either way.

The 25% that say they are thriving may come from all walks of life, all economic classes, all social classes, and all ethnic groups and every other demographic. There is no one single factor that means “thriving” and no one single factor that means “worst possible life.” These are subjective categories that mean different things to different people. What thriving means to me is very very different than what thriving means to my 14 year old grandson. And what thriving means to you will be vastly different than it is to others. The point here is that these categories are moving targets and we all go through stages in life that lend themselves to one side or the other. Most of us get stuck in the middle as these stats show.

Be a person who helps others and yourself move in the direction of thriving, it’s a win for us all when you do.