An extra helping of thankfulness please Published Nov. 27, 2013 By Holly Logan-Arrington Robins Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- It's that time of year when many people start counting their blessings. People have been spreading their thankfulness all over social media faster than an Internet chain letter, posting day-by-day accounts of how grateful they are for the little things in life. That's great. But, have you ever thought how much better life could be if we served up thankfulness year-round, instead of just at Thanksgiving? I know as well as anyone how hard it is sometimes to look at one of life's dark clouds and see the silver lining. Sometimes, it seems there are so many dark clouds you forget that the sun lies just beyond them. This year has brought many challenges that seemed insurmountable. It started with the advent of sequestration. Suddenly, job security seemed to be a thing of the past. As sequestration's butcher knife cut deep into the Defense Department's budget and talk of a furlough began, people began drawing the line between wants and needs, and painfully began trimming the fat from their household budgets. By midyear, groans over an uncertain future grew louder as workers began pulling their financial belts a few notches tighter. Complaints of canceled cable service, decreased dining out and struggling to make ends meet reverberated throughout the workplace. Yet, nearly six months and two furloughs later - one because of sequestration, the other because of the government shutdown - we're all still surviving. Some of us are even finding joy in life despite having to live with fewer luxuries. With the New Year now just a little more than a month away, it begs the question: Are you going to aim to live a life of thankfulness throughout 2014, or are you going to again wait until late November to count your blessings?