I kept a gratitude journal for 6 months & this is what happened…

Preamble

Hark is this the sound of clickbait? No, it’s just how titles work in 2019…

This January, I had surgery and I was diagnosed with endometriosis. I knew at the time that it would be a challenge for me to recover emotionally. (I can be very pessimistic). So in order to survive, I promised to write down 3 things I was grateful for every day to remind myself of my privilege.

Of course, I wrote down the obvious ones, My parents. My brother. My Boo. My best friend. I put down being able to afford health care and small luxuries. Having food, water, shelter and love. Music, art, and books. My hearing, my sight and my breath.

What I’ve included here are the less obvious ones, the more obscure. The gratitudes that made me realise how fortunate I am, that in the history of the universe I live at the same time as the people and items on this list.  Or that I exist at all. I’ve come a long way since teenage me wanted to stop existing entirely.

Gratitudes

•  The Jenna & Julien podcast.
• Discovering the Zero Waste lifestyle.
• My PhD Scholarship.
• Audible.
• The What Cast.
• My pink heat pack.
• Being a Ravenclaw.
• Harmony Nice.
• Buffy Summers.
• Birds singing outside my window in the morning.
• Forgiveness.
• Cool drinking water.
• Madeleine Olivia.
• Baby Green Squish.
• Red wine.
• Van Gogh.
• Lagunitas Beer.
• My tattoos.
• Being able to read.
• Dank Memes.
• Mr Marbles (Jenna’s dog).
• Sunny Hostin on the view.
• Kermit the frog memes.
• The picture of mam when she was young I keep on my desk.
• Lemons in sparkling water.
• The What Cast guys and their sense of humour.
• My lucky blue dress.
• Session IPA.
• The Empire Strikes Back.
• Creativity.
• Ellen my succulent.
• My writer friends on Twitter.
• D’Vine’s Tempranillo.
• Dried fried noodles.
• The big tree at Whitehall.
• Pickles on Pizza. (Cheers Nicole!).
• My Neat Dude beanie in golden.
• Boiled eggs.
• My GHDs.
• Alex the Honking Bird.
• My brother’s ability to find god awful films to watch. i.e The Room.
• The Debbie Machine.
• Black matt lipstick.
• Tibetian bowl music.
• Dr Phil’s analysis podcast.
• Having self-reflection and recognising bad habits.
• Oprah’s book, “The Path Made Clear.“
• Getting to meet my mentor before he died.
• Getting to vote.
• My new supervisor Tara.
• Napping!
• Dr Bob Brier, Egyptologist and all-round nerd King.
• Tattoo Heroes Dublin.
• Lord Snugglebutt.
• Reading in the orange armchair.
• Lucy & Yak dungarees.
• Having leftovers to eat.
• Dido’s album, “Still On My Mind.“
• Nicole’s sense of humour.
• Bananas.
• My What Cast T-Shirt.
• Uniball pens.
• Playing board games.
• Knowing my worth.
• Dying my hair with Mama.
• Knowledge, wisdom and silence.

Results

Honestly? Wonderful. You do not realise how much you take for granted until you start keeping count. Rather than feeling dismay at getting up at 5.30 (I’m not a morning person), I now think the following. Wow, I am employed in my dream job, something I wouldn’t have thought possible even 5 years ago.

When I’m feeling tired and grumpy, I think about how fortunate I am that when I do get to bed, it will be warm and comfortable.

Finally? While a lot on this list are things, they are simple; but genuinely? “The best things in life, aren’t things.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo

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