A ‘break’ from gratitude

Today I was reading through my blog trying to find an explanation of this project to send to someone, and I was reminded why I started all this. Today was day 1,113 of my gratitude project. To be transparent I did take a little break so it should be more than that, but we all need a break sometimes. But here’s a few things I learned on my “break” from gratitude:

• I was less grateful (duh, should be a given)
• I was less satisfied
• I didn’t stop to appreciate things as much
• I was less grateful (yes, I already said that, but I’m trying to make a point)
• I didn’t say thank-you as much
• I felt like something was missing (after all when you post for 1,000 days straight about something, you miss it after a while)
• I was less grateful

I could go on and on. Gratitude has been a daily part of my life since 2013 and my little “break” just didn’t work out well for me. I missed it — a lot. Stopping to just be grateful for one thing each day — could be huge things, could be little things — really made a difference. It changed me in ways I couldn’t anticipate. I learned to give thanks each and every day, and especially on the easy days. Because those “easy days” taught me how to handle the hard days. When the hard days came around — the days where the losses were heavy — I turned to gratitude to find my way through it.

Gratitude changed the way I look at the world — if I’m having a bad day all I need to do is look around and find something to be grateful for. On the really bad days? Sure, you have to look harder. In the days following the fire that killed my father, I found gratitude in the kindness of others, so many people came through after that happened. This project was 15 days old when that happened. Gratitude got me through those dark days and through many other difficult experiences. And on the days where I’m feeling quiet, that’s the days when I need gratitude the most.

I hope this post finds my readers well. As always, I’m extremely grateful for each and every one of you.

Gratefully yours,

B.