You probably ate too much. And the food you did eat was drowned in fats, sugars, cholesterol. And it was magical.

What makes Thanksgiving such a great holiday is the simplicity of it. We watch a parade in the morning, eat indulgent food in the afternoon, watch football the rest of the day, hopefully spend time with family or friends and pause to remember what we’re thankful for.

It’s what is underneath the holiday that I hope we can keep long after the leftovers are consumed.

My challenge is to make the principles of Thanksgiving and the physical & hopefully spiritual nourishment last.

Here’s some of what the holiday gives most of us.

Gratitude

It’s in the name of the holiday. Life in America pauses for a day or more to allow for reflection of the gifts that we have.

What are your practices to pause, take stock of the goodness you have and give gratitude? There’s endless supplies of articles, research, books and social media influences that have detailed prescriptions on practicing gratitude.

Like any consistent action, gratitude can become a habit. Picking a gratitude activity and committing to doing it to a repeatable cadence will help you create the habit.

The amazing thing about gratitude is that it’s an attitude. That means that as we turn more and more into a grateful person, we’ll begin to see things to be grateful for as we go about our days. That short practice that we build will actually shape how we see the world.

Abundance

The Thanksgiving table is a metaphor for abundance. Part of the lore of the holiday is based on the overflow of a bountiful harvest.

We think and act in abundance that day. Typically Americans will consume upwards of 4,500 calories in the Thanksgiving meal alone. That doesn’t include the other meals of the day. That’s well over double than a typical day for us.

Reality is nothing really changes on Thanksgiving day. We have access to all the food we eat that day on any given day. We typically don’t eat that way any other day during the year. What’s the difference? It’s how we think on that day.

Consider how you can think and act more abundantly throughout the days following Thanksgiving. Get second and third helpings of opportunities, relationships, joy, resources.

Relationships

The days around Thanksgiving are the busiest travel days each year. Reports state that the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday following the holiday more Americans travel on those days – especially through the airports.

This points to people traveling to be with others during the holiday. We prioritize our relationships and build upon them during the holiday. It’s become commonplace.

Yet, when we land back home on Sunday or see family & friends leave, let’s make a pack not to let our relationships become the backseat to our hectic lives. How, you might ask? Intentionality.

Relationships don’t just happen. We must be intentional and invest in them. Take time to consider the key relationships that you want to invest in. What are the cadences in which you’ll connect with that person or the group of people? Make the commitment and take the actions to foster the relationship.

This year, as we turn the page from the actual Thanksgiving holiday, let’s commit to applying what can make this holiday great to the rest of the year. Lean into gratitude, the abundance and the relationships that we cultivated. Take the experiences of this year or from years past and carry it forward.