Today I’m grateful for gratitude.

Twenty-one days ago I started this gratitude series on my blog. I have no real direction or obligations to fulfill by writing down what I am grateful for each day. However, it allows me to write just a little bit on a daily basis and keep connected to my blog.

I’m glad I didn’t set a goal for writing the gratitudes. I have no set number  to write before I feel they are complete. I will just keep going until I feel done or until I have a new direction as to what to document on the blog. I just want to make sure I continue to write.

I have always loved writing. Some of my earliest memories include using my parent’s old word processor to write the “Story of my Life” in third grade. It was only a page and half and I don’t even remember what it said, but I remember feeling compelled to write down my great adventures.

Writing allows me to express myself in ways I cannot verbally. As an introvert, I find I can think better through expressing myself in writing rather than verbalizing my feelings. When I find myself being nervous about telling someone something difficult, I often need to write it down first and think on it for a good long while before telling the person what I wrote. Writing calms and energizes me.

For the last three years during the month of November, I have written a daily gratitude on Facebook. I think I am done with the Facebook tradition but it has been extremely helpful.

November has always been a very difficult month for me. It’s my least favorite month. I have spent Novembers in the hospital; I have spent them visiting people in the hospital; I have spent them in grief over someone close passing away; and I have spent the holidays on two different coasts as a result of parental divorce. I have always felt a loss during that month. So writing down gratefuls is a gentle reminder of all there is to be happy for – despite the sadness. It has gotten me through the month of November feeling more hopeful and more grateful than I ever have during that particular month. And now I want to continue those gratitudes through the entire year- even when in my happiest months.

Being aware of what I am grateful for is life changing. Truly. I spend my drives home thinking of the small things that happened that make me happy and make me feel grateful I am alive. Even the smallest good things trigger my thoughts of, “Oh! I’m grateful for that!”. Two ply toilet paper, the convienance of microwaves, memories of cassette tapes, funny texts, self check-out, ATMS, and all of the other little things that I normally wouldn’t think twice about, are a reminder of all of the things for which I’m grateful.

So today I’m grateful for gratitude. It gets me through the hard days or the tough moments. It makes me savor the good days and excellent moments. And the moment now where I’m typing on the computer, thinking of being grateful is something I can document and continue to be grateful for in the years to come.