Chasing gratitude

Today I woke up on the wrong side of the universe and it just kept going.

I didn’t want to get out of bed. I couldn’t find my socks. The dogs wouldn’t eat — and one of them is really sick and I’m afraid he will slip away soon. Then the dogs made a mess. I spilled my shampoo. My hair wouldn’t cooperate.

Then my car wouldn’t unlock. There was a traffic back-up on my road, which was due to an accident on another highway (I didn’t know at the time).

By the time I pulled into my parking space at work, I wanted to throw in the towel and just go back home, sit on the couch and forget Monday existed — all for a bunch of small things.

On days like these where nothing seems to be going right, gratitude isn’t easy. On days where a bunch of little things add up into one giant pile of frustration, gratitude is far from my mind.

As I settled into work and got a few things done, the frustration I was feeling slowly lifted and I realized a few things. In my frustration I missed out on an entire beautiful Halloween morning. The air was cool and wet this morning with low-hanging fog. My dogs probably didn’t eat well because they knew I was frustrated. And I missed my few precious moments with them this morning — because of my frustration.

I didn’t enjoy my cool car ride with my windows and sunroof back. I didn’t even look at the campus as I walked to my office.

I wasn’t feeling grateful for much of anything. And now I’m wishing for a do-over.

What these nearly 1,000 days of writing daily gratitude posts on my Facebook page have taught me is that gratitude works. When I allow myself to move away from gratitude and get caught up in frustrations, I lose my perspective. This morning’s frustrations were all small things. VERY small things.

As I type this, I’m so grateful for perspective. I’m so grateful that I was able to pull myself back into gratitude and gain that perspective again. I can’t get a do-over of my morning, but I can move forward with gratitude — which truly changed and transformed my life over these past few years.

Stay tuned. Wonderful things are coming.

B.