Today I am thankful for #30DaysOfThankfulness

11/30/21

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So, confession time. On October 31 my mom asked me if I was going to do my attitude of gratitude posts this year as I have done in the past. I really hesitated. I told her that I wanted to, but that I hadn’t even started yet and I was already kind of mad at myself for committing.

Now, I realize that this makes no sense. What I think I was trying to get at, though, was that once I commit to starting something I really like to follow through. I didn’t want to be a couple days in and call it quits. I mean, nothing would have happened if I had. There’s no gratitude police that would come after me or anything. But like I shared earlier this month, my competitive drive is kind of fierce and not finishing something I started would have haunted me. Also, I hesitated because I’d done this in the past I knew that there would be days where I wouldn’t feel like writing or I would have to work hard to stay in the gratitude mind frame. And I wasn't wrong.

But here’s why I decided to do it, and why, in turn, I’m thankful that I did.

1. I like to write. Journaling is a passion of mine, but I get in hot and cold streaks with how much or how often I write. This 30 day thankfulness challenge helps give me a push to do something I truly enjoy doing but sometimes fail to make the time for.

2. I like to look back and remember the blessings in my life. Having a record of these warms my heart. When Facebook tells me each day that I have memories to look back on, it’s nice to read and remember the things from November 2019 or November 2020 that made me pause in gratitude. When I look back, I get to be grateful for them all over again.

3. And most importantly, for me gratitude breeds happiness. This daily practice of reflecting on things for which I’m grateful helps me keep my eyes open, my mind open, and my heart open. And, I find that the more I’m looking for blessings, the more of them I see. I’m clear that my happiness is my responsibility, and thanking God each day for my blessings is one of the ways I feed that. Some days I have to dig really deep to find my blessings amidst my messings, but it always seems to be worth it. So, I chose to do this as a commitment to that daily dig.

So that’s it. November 2021, that’s a wrap. My month was a busy, crazy, stressful one. But the blessings were abundant, and for that I’m truly grateful.