Have you felt the ground shake recently? The string of earthquakes across the country and even around the world has left many of us rattled, literally and figuratively.
If you were among those who experienced it, think back for a moment.
Where were you?
What were you doing?
Who were you with?
And how did you respond when the ground beneath you started to move?
Did your heart race? Did your life flash before your eyes, even for a second?
Experiences like this have a way of humanizing us. They strip away all the noise, all the busyness, all the roles we play and take us straight back to what truly matters.
I’ve seen videos circulating online: fathers rushing to carry their children out of shaking homes; construction workers clinging to skeletal towers of rebar, high above the ground; even strangers instinctively reaching out to protect someone else’s child as walls trembled around them.
And when the earth finally stood still, almost in unison, people whispered the same words: “Thank you, Lord.”
Not because they were unshaken, but because they were still here. Because the people they loved were still here.
That’s the strange beauty of moments like these. More than fear, it’s gratitude that takes over. We’re thankful for our lives, our families, our friends, and the simple gift of being able to breathe, talk, and hold the people we love.
And maybe that’s the lesson we’re being reminded of again and again through every quake, storm, and unexpected jolt that shakes our world.
We only have one life.
As someone who’s spent more than four decades in Human Resources, I’ve seen both the best and the worst of how people and organizations respond in times of crisis. I was honestly disheartened when I saw reports of companies forcing employees to stay at their desks while the building swayed, making them keep answering calls as if nothing was happening.
Moments like that make me wonder: have we forgotten what it means to be human?
No job, no metric, no business goal should ever outweigh a person’s safety or life. The truth is, the world won’t end if a few calls go unanswered. But it can literally end for someone if we choose efficiency over empathy.
These experiences are wake-up calls, in more ways than one. They remind us to pause, to breathe, to look around.
To ask ourselves:
What am I grateful for today?
Who are the people I couldn’t imagine losing?
What really matters when the ground beneath me shakes?
Gratitude grounds us when everything else feels uncertain. It’s what connects us to our humanity, to each other, and to the very essence of being alive.
So today, before you move on to the next thing on your list, take a moment to be still.
Look around you.
Take in the faces of the people you love, the work that sustains you, the small joys that make your life beautiful—your morning coffee, your children’s laughter, the sunlight sneaking through your window.
Be thankful for the one life you have.
Because despite the quakes, the storms, and the chaos, you are still here.
And that, my friend, is something worth being deeply grateful for.
