US Thanksgiving reminds me to make a list every year of all the things that have gone well, and all the friends, clients, referral sources, and others who I’ve been able to work with during the year.

This doesn’t mean that all the feelings of the season are good. They never have been. The Mayflower colonists lost half their members in the first winter, and could give thanks that next fall only because of Wampanoag neighbors who had lost many of their own to plague shortly before the 101 Plymouth settlers came. The English settlers persevered, and were able to grow a crop that next Spring and summer, with more than enough to share by fall of the next year. Their neighbors knew how to hunt, and brought more than their own fair share of food and joy to the feast.

Your business may have hard times now, or may have lost money in prior years. It may need to change, in order to survive. The friends and neighbors around you, though, are more in number than you could believe, when you are sitting alone looking at low bank balances and little hope. You can and must continue to dream, to build, to plant, and to work with others who can help you reach your goals. If the dream is right, you will have a good harvest.