I Am Grateful

July 25th 2018

Gratitude; a great for of self-care~

In my “My Month in Self-Care” series, I set weekly goals that I try to accomplish in the quest for self-care. This past week, I made it my goal to express gratitude. You see, I find expressing gratitude for what is present in my life to be a very important form of self-care because I often get consumed with what I lack and the impending future.

I made a Gratitude List in early June and decided I would circle back to that idea and try to dive a little deeper. The previous list was incredibly basic and didn’t really delve into WHY I was grateful for the things I listed. So, today I am going to give you a deeper look into my personal list of gratitude:

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   My Family- I was brought up on the belief that family comes first. I am a firm believer in this and that belief hasn’t steered me wrong yet. Growing up, I have been exposed to people with less-than-stellar family lives, which makes me all the more grateful for the amazing people I get to call my family. My parents raised my brother and I so well and I hope to be half as great as them one day. I don’t know who I would be if it weren’t for the constant love and support of my family.

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   My Friends- Friendship is a huge thing for me because I struggled for so long to find good friends. Each of my friends brings something entirely unique to my life and I love being there for them on their life journey as they are there for mine. They are all living proof that you shouldn’t let the bad people of your past keep you from finding good. (Just want to say to any of my friends reading this that may not have been included in this collage, that just means we need more pictures together)

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   The Color Yellow- This may sound silly, but yellow was my first favorite color and has returned to being my favorite color after many years. I sort of view this as symbolic because when yellow left my life, I turned to blue…during the years where I spent the most time “feeling blue”. Now that yellow is back to being my favorite color, I view that as a sign of me returning to my old self and moving onto brighter days.

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   Nature & Animals- I have really found a passion in advocating for the environment and the animals in our environment. I grew up watching animal planet and to this day, I am grateful for nature and animals as they helped teach me compassion for living things.

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   My Spirituality- Growing up, I was never religious so I didn’t talk of my beliefs much. However, once I discovered my own spiritual preferences and beliefs, I really feel I developed opinions of life and mortality. I am grateful for my personal spirituality because it is unique to me because no one is feeding me opinions or thoughts.

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   Yoga & Writing- Two very different things that contributed very similar things to my life. Yoga and writing gave me outlets. I have two outlets for my creativity, my emotions, my thoughts, and my energy. Both have shaped me into the person I am today and they give me depth.

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   Books- I don’t read as much as I would like to, but I am still grateful for books and the authors who write them. Books are an escape, but also a place to learn and even relate. I feel that a lot of times, books come into my life at specific points to teach me lessons or make me feel less alone.

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   Music & Concerts- I live my life in soundtracks. I know songs that make me happy and sad and angry and affectionate. I can drive down the street and hear a song that can bring me back to warm spring days or heartbreaks, but I am grateful all the same. My love for music has also allowed me to find amazing artists like Betty Who, who has not only become a large part of my life musically, but personally.

9. 
   My Blog- My blog makes me really happy. Sometimes I can be stressed out by my own self-imposed schedule, but I feel like that little bit of stress has helped me grow as a person. And although sometimes I get stressed that blogging won’t take me anywhere, I am grateful that I still have the opportunity to keep trying.
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    The Fact That I’m Alive- I never want to forget to be grateful for being alive. Some people struggle every day to live, and I live such a blessed life. I live such a great life that I want to spend it helping other people improve their lives. I am grateful for my health and the fact that people are always around to support me whether I am feeling high or low.

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What are you grateful for?

Jess~