Daily Gratitude Days 12 and 13: Japan Wands and Perfectly Imperfect

Wah! It looks like I’ve finally caught the lurgy that’s been going around Australia recently. It’s been a pretty rough winter for colds and flus, and I’d managed to escape it so far. Last night I felt tired, so instead of blogging, I made our bed with fresh sheets and went to bed early.

This morning I woke up feeling a bit yuk. L and I spent the morning working on a jigsaw puzzle before school, and after dropping him off, I pushed through and got my workout done on the bike. This afternoon I realised I was tired, my throat hurt, and my eyes were dry and hot. I went to talk to my husband about something and bam, my voice was going.

So yep. I’m getting sick. Boo.

Anyways, time to catch up on my daily gratitude.

Daily Gratitude Day 12: If I had a magic wand

Day 12’s daily gratitude prompt from The Optimistic Muse was:

If I had a magic wand, I would… 

So here’s the cool thing: I do have a magic wand! I’ve had it for a few years, in fact. And legend has it that if you wave it in just the right way, in a particular location, that magic happens.

Ok so the particular location is Universal Studios, in Hogsmeade. And it’s not so much “magic” as it is very cool special effects. But when we were there in 2019 (whaaat? How was it so long ago?!) I had so much fun with baby L waving it around and seeing what would happen.

So to answer the question, if my wand was actually magic, I would whisk us all away back to Japan for a day at Universal Studios. And, you know, to take a holiday since we’re there and all.

Check out baby L! He’s certainly due a trip back!

I’m just trying to figure out how to convince my husband that we should go back again in 2029 – 10 years since the last trip.

For example, I can’t remember the taste of butterbeer. Does that constitute a crisis?

What about that L was too young to remember it; surely he needs to go back. That’s probably got a better chance of success.

Daily Gratitude Day 13: A way I’ve grown this year is

This year I’ve really learned to embrace my creativity, but most importantly, I’ve been learning to embrace imperfection. It’s one of my 52-in-52 goals (52 things in 52 weeks), and I’ve kept a bit of a running journal on moments where I feel like I’ve learned to embrace it.

• Journaling and lettering: At the start of the year, I was using erasable pens in case I made a mistake. Now, I’m using acrylic pens, fineliners, washi tape, and stickers. I pick something and go with it. And if I don’t like how it looks, I just tell myself I learned something new, and I move on. Every day is a fresh piece of paper…and that just came out deeper and more meaningful than I meant it to, but let’s go with it.
• Craft lessons: I’ve attended a few craft lessons with friends this year, and every single time I have had to work hard to not fall into the habit of criticising my own stuff. I’ve embraced what I’ve made. I am learning, after all. Sadly I feel like my son’s need to be perfect at things came from me, but I’m hoping it might rub off on him to just give things a crack.
• My blog posts: I’ve really embraced writing something that might not be “a perfect post”. It might waffle on; it might be utterly pointless. It might also have typos all the way through it. But that just makes my blog unique, and true to me. That’s who I am; that’s why you’re here reading, after all… for the perfectly imperfect person behind the words?

I’m learning to lower the bar of expectations and just go with things a bit more. And that’s some real personal growth there.

I’m proud of me!

Might make myself even prouder by going to bed now, I’m exhausted.

If you had a magic “travel” wand that would take you anywhere in the world, where would you go? And what have you done this year that you’re proud of?