It is far too easy to get caught up in a woe-is-me attitude when circumstances and situations seem to be conspiring against us. And when the whole world is fraught with tragedy, it’s even more challenging to keep a positive attitude.

Thanksgiving week is an ideal time to try to switch things around by doing something that’s simple but can make all the difference: count your blessings.

It’s a holiday cliche for a good reason. There is always something to be thankful for if we look hard enough. And yes, sometimes that thing to be grateful for might be difficult to find.

But it’s there. It might not be the blessing you want, but it’s there. Me? My blessings include a fabulous family, fantastic friends, a job that I enjoy and relatively good health.

Even if you have trouble finding the silver lining in your life, there is something else to remember. Someone else has it worse than you do.

Much worse.

Facebook memes proclaim that concept in many ways. But it’s a fact that you’re ahead of most of the people on the planet if you have a warm bed, food to eat and clean water.

Watch news reports from around the globe to remind you how fortunate we are to be able to go to a concert and not worry about assassins swooping in. How lucky we are cars loaded with explosives are not driven into the neighborhood supermarket. How blessed we are to be able to go to a football game and not fear for our safety.

The recent explosions in Paris, the endless bombings in Beirut and the horrors too many people around the globe face every single day should be a wake-up call to us all. Despite our day to day problems, we are incredibly blessed.

Since 2010, a Michigan-based news story has reminded me each Thanksgiving to count my blessings. It’s about three young boys who went missing Thanksgiving weekend that year in downstate Morenci and have not been seen since.

Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton disappeared then. They’d be 14, 12 and 10 now.

That’s all tragic enough but the kicker is their father is believed to be involved in their vanishing. Their own father.

A few days ago, the Detroit Free Press interviewed Tanya Zuvers, the boys’ mother, and she said she still hopes John Skelton, the boys’ father, will “be overcome with the sudden urge to start talking” about their disappearance. The father is in prison, serving a 10- to 15-year sentence after pleading no contest in 2012 to three counts of unlawful imprisonment in connection with the boys’ disappearance.

The agony of losing a child has to be unbearable. The pain of not knowing what happened to your children has to be crushing. The story brings tears to my eyes whenever I think about those three little ones.

On Thanksgiving Day, there will be a candlelight ceremony for Andrew, Alexander and Tanner Skelton in a park where they played. My prayers will include the boys and their mom Thursday.

And those prayers will include all the people suffering in this world as I give thanks for the blessings in my life, which far outnumber any burdens or trials.

Hope you are able to see your blessings clearly this Thanksgiving.

Editor’s note: Renee Prusi can be contacted at 906-228-2500, ext. 240.