When King Writes

I know it sometimes feels like guilt to acknowledge your blessings. Because the moment you become aware of how good you have it, you can’t unsee how many others don’t.

But you know what? In these times, when opening the news feels like bracing for another wave of bad headlines, I want to offer a breath of fresh air. I want to take a moment to be thankful for this life that’s been given to me—temporarily—and put into words the blessings I’ve received but haven’t paused to thank in a while.

At first, I thought I was just going to scribble down a quick list of five things I’m grateful for as a woman living in the 21st century. But as soon as I started, the list kept growing. There is so much to be thankful for, including these 11.

#1 The right to dream bigger

Gone are the days when most women were sent off to marry and treated like property. I no longer have to accept the fate of being handed over—once I “come of age”—to a much older man who expects me to manage his house and bear as many children as he wants.

Today, I can have a career and a family. Or neither. I get to define success for myself.

I love seeing women lead companies, write bestselling novels, direct Oscar-winning films, and even run entire countries. It’s no longer rare! We’re out here managing it all like the superwomen we are.

#2 Access to education

Whose idea was it anyway that women didn’t have the right to study? Or that we didn’t need access to education?

Well, I think we can all agree that no one person woke up one day and declared, “Let’s keep women uneducated!” It was more a reflection of patriarchal systems and deeply rooted religious, cultural, and political norms that evolved over centuries.

I know some religions outright discouraged women’s education, saying it would corrupt us or make us disobedient. But in general, education was seen as unnecessary for women because our “role” was believed to be in the home. We were expected to raise children, manage homes, and quietly support our husbands from the sidelines.

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that if that’s what you want to do, today I am thankful that I get to study if I want to. I have the choice, and that choice exists because of the women who came before me.

All because, across history, we had women like Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. She argued that women weren’t inferior; they just lacked access to education.

Or Savitribai Phule in India, who opened schools for girls in the 1800s despite harassment, threats, and violence.

Of course, who can forget that in both world wars, women had to step into roles traditionally held by men?? They proved, once and for all, that women were just as capable, just as intelligent, and just as deserving of opportunity and responsibility.

Because of them, today I can learn almost anything, anytime, anywhere—from university degrees to YouTube tutorials. And with my education, I can make noise. I can vote. I can march. I can write a viral thread calling out injustice. I have a platform like this, and no one would dare throw stones at me just for being an educated woman saying my piece.

#3 Financial independence

It drives me nuts to think that in many parts of the world, women couldn’t open their own bank accounts without a man’s permission until well into the 20th century. If you were a woman, even earning your own money didn’t guarantee you full access to it!

In the U.S., for example, it wasn’t until the 1960s and 70s that things began to shift. Before that, a woman often needed her husband, father, or brother to co-sign on a bank account or loan. Married women’s finances were legally considered part of their husbands. Crazy, right?!

And in many countries, this kind of financial autonomy is still a struggle. Some women still can’t open bank accounts, own land, or access credit without male approval. Obviously, the fight isn’t over.

Still, today, I’m thankful. I can open as many bank accounts as I want, with my name—and mine alone—on each one. I can start a business, grow my wealth, and build a life without waiting for a man to hand me an allowance.

With a laptop and Wi-Fi, I can save, spend, invest, and keep earning. I have more ways to manage money than women ever have before.

#4 Reproductive rights

What you saw in the House of Dragons wasn’t a lie. That kind of control over women’s bodies wasn’t just reserved for royalty—it was the norm for most of history. Women’s bodies were seen less as their own and more as tools. For reproduction, for family legacy, for religious ideals… the list goes on.

And in almost every legal and political system throughout time, men were in charge. They made the laws, ran the courts, led the churches, and shaped the cultural narrative. So, of course, reproductive decisions reflected their values, their fears, their control.

I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for women like me—stubborn, strong-willed—to live in a time when your body wasn’t considered yours. To carry your own will, only to have it overruled again and again by men making decisions about your reproductive rights.

Thankfully, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women like Margaret Sanger in the U.S. began openly discussing birth control (a radical act at the time). She believed women couldn’t be truly free unless they could control their own fertility, and for that, she was arrested multiple times for distributing pamphlets about contraception. But she kept going.

Of course, change did not happen overnight. But because of fearless women, now we get to reap the benefits.

Today, in many parts of the world, women are able to plan (or not plan) when and whether to have children. And that changes everything! There’s a massive difference between living life reactively and living it intentionally.

Also, can I just say thank you, 21st century, for modern period care. We’ve got pads, tampons, menstrual cups, period underwear, and pain relief that doesn’t involve questionable herbs or sacrificing goats. 🤣

Gone are the days of stuffing rags or sitting out of school because menstruation was too messy and shameful to manage. Today, many of us can carry on with our lives uninterrupted. And while there’s still room to grow (access and affordability, I see you), we’re finally living in a time when period dignity is part of the conversation.

It’s not perfect. But being a woman today feels like standing on the shoulders of all those who fought like hell before us. And that’s something I’ll never stop being grateful for.

Next, I want to zoom out and appreciate the basic blessings I often forget because I’m swimming in them daily. Not just as a woman but as a person. The fact that we’re alive in the 21st century is a BLESSING in so many ways! Especially when you think about the sheer chaos that was life even just a few centuries ago.

#5 The right to heal with dignity

I’d like for you to take a minute and picture what mental health care was like before…

I’ve read some things on Quora about lobotomies, where surgeons would literally sever connections in the brain’s prefrontal cortex to “calm” patients. This often led to serious brain damage, personality changes, or death. And this wasn’t ancient history—it was mainstream in the 1940s and 50s.

And way, way back? There was trepanation, or the ancient practice of drilling holes into someone’s skull to “release evil spirits” and relieve mental pressure. Barbaric, but it was practiced for centuries.

Today? We have actual therapy. Thank God. 🤣

Advances in psychology and neuroscience helped us realize mental illness is not a character flaw but a mental condition. And maybe most importantly, we started talking about it. Mental health finally moved out of the shadows and into everyday conversation.

Outside of mental health, we’ve also got more access to vaccines, antibiotics, and anesthesia. I can even Google symptoms at 2 a.m. to panic-diagnose myself (not that I’m recommending it, but let’s be real—we all do it. Don’t lie. 😅)

And ugh, the blessing of all blessings for mothers and mothers-to-be: childbirth no longer has to be a death sentence. 🥹 That alone is worth a standing ovation for modern medicine.

#6 Modern travel

Remember when crossing continents meant boarding a rickety ship for weeks—that is, if you survived scurvy? Or riding a horse through unpredictable terrain, hoping you didn’t get lost (or attacked) along the way?

Now, I can be halfway around the world in less time than it takes to binge-watch Bridgerton.

As someone who loves to travel, I am endlessly thankful for commercial planes, bullet trains, and ride-hailing apps. They make travel accessible and fast in ways our ancestors couldn’t have even imagined.

If I want to see cherry blossoms in Japan, I can just book a flight. If I need to visit a sick friend in another country, I can be there tomorrow.

And, perhaps most importantly, I can experience so much of this world—its beauty, its chaos, and its quiet little moments—all in my one short, blink-of-an-eye kind of life. And that is a blessing I never want to take for granted.

#7 Google maps

I love planning my trips months ahead, and Google Maps plays a huge role in helping me make the most of my limited travel time. I can easily route my days, figure out which spots to visit first, and even find hotels and restaurants near the attractions I want to explore.

From hunting down a hidden ramen spot to hiking a new trail, this little app has become my third eye. It reroutes. It speaks. It shows where to park the car.

While our grandparents had the time of their lives using paper maps, compasses, and “intuition,” we have the option to utilize satellite-powered accuracy and street views. 😎

Except, of course, in places where Google Maps hasn’t quite mastered the roads yet. In those cases, yes, you’ll still have to ask a friendly stranger, “Left or right at the mango tree?”

#8 Instant news

Instant news is one of those modern marvels that feels so normal now, but it’s actually a superpower when you think about it.

There was a time when news traveled by word of mouth, then by horse, then by telegraph. People would wait days or weeks just to hear that something had happened—let alone the details. (Note to self to research how people trained birds to send a message.)

Now? You get a push notification the moment a world leader sneezes. 🤧

Thanks to Google Alerts, curated e-mail newsletters, and even social media (yes, Telegram and Instagram can be helpful too), we’re connected to everything—from breaking global crises to scientific breakthroughs to that viral raccoon video in Canada. We’re never in the dark unless we choose to be.

It’s empowering to be informed, to form opinions quickly (and responsibly), and to mobilize around causes in real time. I agree that digital noise can be overwhelming, but let’s also acknowledge the fact that what we have is something past generations never had the privilege to do.

#9 Clean water on demand

This is gross, but I just have to share it because if you don’t already, you must know that before modern sewage systems and clean water infrastructure, hygiene was a whole different, horrifying reality.

Back then, people didn’t have toilets, plumbing, or any sort of real waste management. Instead, they threw their poop outside. They did!!

In medieval Europe, for example, it was common practice to dump chamber pots—indoor buckets of pee and poop—straight into the street. People would shout “Gardyloo!” (from the French “Regardez l’eau!” meaning “watch out for the water!”) as a warning before hurling their waste out the window. Imagine how putrid London was. 🤮

Needless to say, the streets reeked. Diseases like cholera, dysentery, and the plague spread like wildfire.

Also, bathing was a luxury because clean water wasn’t easy to come by. Gathering it meant hauling heavy buckets from wells or rivers—and heating it was a major task.

In some households that did have bathtubs and enough water to fill them, it was common for everyone to share the same water. It usually went like this:

• The eldest or most respected—usually the father—would bathe first.
• Then, the rest of the family, in order of seniority, would follow.
• By the time the youngest kid got in, the water was… no longer clear. 😬

This is where the saying “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” comes from—because yes, babies were bathed last, and the water was so murky someone might accidentally toss the baby out while dumping it.

Thank God and our smart ancestors, the 19th and 20th centuries brought public sewage systems, water treatment facilities, hot water on demand, and showers and baths in almost every home.

Today, we flush toilets that carry waste away like magic, wash our hands, bathe daily (or at least often), and have clean, running water right from the tap.

No trekking miles with a bucket. No cholera outbreaks from contaminated wells. Just… plumbing.

#10 Electricity

It’s one thing to watch movies set in the old days (pre-electricity) while curled up on a comfy couch in a perfectly air-conditioned room—and another thing entirely to actually live in those inconvenient times.

Back then, people had no lights, no screens, no fridges, no plugs… nothing. If you wanted to read, you had to do it before sunset or by the glow of a smoky, flickering lantern.

Manual labor ran the world and didn’t leave much room for most people to do anything else. People spent their lives grinding grain, scrubbing clothes, fetching water, and ironing with hunks of heated metal. Unless you were born into royalty or came from old money and had help, of course.

And because the fridge didn’t exist, food spoiled fast. Meat was preserved with salt or smoke, and milk had to be consumed quickly. Ice was a luxury, harvested from lakes and stored underground. They did not have ice cream. 😔

But now? I flip a switch, and there’s light. I plug in my laptop, my phone, my coffee maker. Instant power. I don’t have to rely on candles, oil lamps, or literal fire (unless there’s a blackout with no generator or I’m camping, haha).

We’ve got washing machines. Dishwashers. Microwaves. Vacuum cleaners. Electric-powered tools that do in minutes what used to take hours. Our ancestors would’ve fainted from joy. 🤣

My point is, I am thankful for electricity. I don’t have to salt meat to keep it from rotting. My leftovers stay fresh. I can have ice cream anytime—and in more flavors than a medieval queen could dream of.

A huge thank you to the brilliant minds who contributed to humankind’s understanding of electricity, including Benjamin Franklin, who flew a kite during a thunderstorm and proved that lightning was a form of electricity.

Alessandro Volta, who invented the first true battery (yes, volt is named after him). And later, Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, who brought electricity into our homes. Thank you to these people for giving us the gift of convenience.

#11 Supermarkets and delivery apps

Last but not least, instant food craving satisfaction!

If you were hungry in the pre-supermarket, pre-GrabFood, pre-anything era, your options were limited. A craving was just something you sat with.

There were no supermarkets with 24/7 access to everything from bananas to barbecue sauce. No food courts. No ramen joints open ‘til 2 a.m. If you wanted food, you had to grow, raise, and preserve it. If you didn’t grow or catch it yourself, you had to barter with someone who did.

And if you suddenly craved something exotic—like cinnamon, chocolate, or tea, those were luxury imports, available only to the wealthy or in rare markets. Most people didn’t even know what those tasted like.

Today, I can be lying in bed, craving sushi, and have it show up at my door 45 minutes later. I can walk into a grocery store in my pajamas and buy blueberries, pasta, oat milk, and six different kinds of hot sauce—even if it’s 9 p.m. on a Wednesday.

It’s easy to forget how insane that is. The fact that we no longer have to ignore a craving or wait it out is such a modern blessing. And, we no longer have to be like Rapunzel’s mom, who asked her husband to steal from a witch’s garden. 😮‍💨

Final Thoughts

We’re living in a time of luxury disguised as normal life—and I don’t ever want to forget that.

But somewhere in the middle of all this gratitude, it’s important to pause and say: not every woman—or person—has access to these things yet. In many parts of the world, clean water is still a daily quest. Period products are a luxury. Internet access is rare. Safety, education, and autonomy are still being fought for.

So, as a writer, I want to hold both truths gently: yes, we’re incredibly blessed—and no, not everyone shares in these blessings.

We need to stay aware of the world’s pain. We need to grieve with those who suffer, stay informed, take action where we can, and never let ourselves grow numb.

But at the same time, we can’t forget to look around and say, “Wow. I’m safe. I’m clean. I’m fed. I’m free.” Because that’s perspective. That’s honoring the comfort we have instead of taking it for granted.

In recognizing the everyday miracles of modern life, I am not pretending that things are perfect. Rather, I wrote this piece to remind myself, and you, that even amid chaos, there’s still beauty, progress, and hard-won blessings all around us.

Let’s celebrate what we have with deep, intentional gratitude—fully aware that without the hard work of those who came before us, none of this modern convenience would be ours to enjoy.

And hopefully, with all the comfort and opportunity the modern world gives us, we find the strength—and the heart—to pay it forward. ✨

Disclaimer: Photos for this article were generated using AI.