August Gratitude Speed Round (Days 20 to 26)

Oof, I am well behind in posting my daily gratitude updates. First, being sick meant I had bugger all energy, and then I’ve just been busy with life in general.

But things are good, and tracking in the right direction finally!

Anyway, let’s do a speed round of gratitude so that I can catch up.

Gratitude Prompts

If you’re new to the blog, these gratitude prompts came from The Optimistic Muse. I was originally trying to post them daily, but as mentioned, I fell off the wagon for a bit.

So, without further ado, here are the last few days (oh my god, nearly a week) of gratitude:

• Day 20 – Take a photo of something beautiful. I looked at my phone, and the only photos I took that day were of our kitchen. I mean, it’s not beautiful in a traditional sense, but we’ve just knocked down a cupboard, and we’re preparing to extend the bench.
  
  So, um… consider it a future IOU on beautiful.
  
  Our builder, Chris, would probably argue that he’s beautiful, though.

• Day 21 – Who in your life truly listens when you speak? I didn’t expect to hesitate with this so much, or realise that sometimes I don’t feel heard. Yikes. I can immediately pinpoint people that I know are good listeners – my friends from the States, Cass and Kim, and an Aussie friend of mine, Emma.
  
  That’s not to say that there aren’t other people around me, but just recently, I’ve turned to these people in particular when I’ve needed to get something off my chest or work through some things. So if you’re reading this, thanks guys!

• Day 22 – One habit that helps me feel grounded is… Writing in my planner! To the surprise of absolutely no one.
  
  Coincidentally, I’ve been time tracking this week, and have realised how long I actually spend on my planner every morning. We’re talking in the vicinity of half an hour’ish.
  
  I initially wasn’t sure if I was happy or sad about it, but ultimately settled on happy. Kim (see point before about someone listening) pointed out it could almost be considered a meditation at this point, and my response was, “Well, it certainly makes me feel like I’ve got my shit together!” I’m so eloquent. But yep, definitely my planner.

• Day 23 – If my body could talk, today it would be thankful for… finally starting to feel healthy again! I’m getting some sleep (still wake for the odd coughing session), and I’m not spitting up so much gunk.
  
  Apologies for the overshare.
  
  I can’t believe the energy difference, though. I didn’t realise just how tired I was until suddenly I got it all back. I’ve worked out every day, I’ve been smashing through my housework and chore list, and just feel… good. I can’t wait until I kick the tail end of this thing. As much as I appreciate the strong ab muscles that all the coughing is inevitably giving me, I’d much prefer to earn them the more traditional way.

• Day 24 – Pause and stretch. Hug yourself. Really! Do it! Again, coincidental timing, but I just swapped out my standing desk in my office for a new one that I scored for free, an electronic one.
  
  The day I first started using it, I appreciated the fact that instead of hand-cranking my desk into the standing position, I could use the time to stretch out my hips. And boy, did it feel good. As a desk worker, my hips are far too tight. I can now press the button, and in the time it took me to move my chair out of the way, it had reached standing height. I don’t know if it’s just because of the novelty factor, but I’ve definitely been standing a lot more this week.

• Day 25 – I’m grateful for this mistake that taught me something important. Jumping into the deep end of thinking here, but I’m grateful for a past relationship that was incredibly emotionally damaging.
  
  My mistake was to go back and “try again”.
  
  What it taught me was my own self-worth and what makes me happy.
  
  Spoiler alert – that relationship certainly didn’t make me happy! I quickly identified my mistake, ended things, and walked away. I can now appreciate when someone treats me well, and advocate for myself when they’re not. That time of my life hurt, but it shaped my future and put me on a path that was so much better than where I was headed.

• Day 26 – List three things that brought you joy today.
  1. Eating dinner with my husband and child outside. We set up a cooker like a little hibachi grill, and cooked up some chicken, steak, pork, halloumi, asparagus, and corn. The idea was inspired by a friend of ours who mentioned the other day that she and her sons do the same thing regularly – such a great idea! And it was a lot of fun. Silver lining: it means I’m learning how to cook meat, something I’m really not confident about.
  2. I’m working on a project that I’m really enjoying, and being able to present something to my team and feeling confident in what I’m doing brought me a lot of joy. It was a rewarding day.
  3. My son cranking Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now at 6.30 am on the speaker in his room. Now, while I’m sure our neighbours didn’t appreciate it, and I quickly told him to turn it down, his passion for music brings me a lot of joy. It was followed by some tunes in the kitchen, and he and I busting out some spontaneous dance breaks while getting ready for school or work.

Phew, and that’s me all caught up! This has been a really fun challenge so far!

Who’s your person when you need to feel heard? And what’s one thing that genuinely brought you joy today?