November is National Gratitude Month.

I feel like gratitude is one of those buzzwords that people like to throw around when they’re trying to be endlessly positive and you just want to tell them to shut up. But I get how important it is to be thankful for/appreciate all the good stuff in life, especially when it’s so easy to get bogged down in the everyday minutiae. Plans go wrong, mistakes happen, messes are made, and sometimes life just seems unfair, but it’s always a good idea to pause each day and think of even one little thing that has gone right or is just plain good. In fact, experts have found that practicing gratitude not only make you happier, but it can make you healthier, too.

Expressing our gratitude enhances our moods, decreases our stress, and thus improves our overall health and wellbeing. Grateful people tend to have fewer stress-related illnesses, experience less depression, are more physically fit, and have more satisfying relationships. Those are all compelling reasons to focus on the good instead of getting lost in the bad.

Cultivating gratitude is easy; it starts with noticing the goodness in life. I think we can all agree that this year has been a doozey, and I personally haven’t been very good about appreciating the good things I have. And because the benefits of gratitude are accrued over time, I’m going to make it a month-long (and hopefully beyond) endeavor to try to be more positive and practice gratitude. Each week during the month of November I’ll describe all the things I’ve been grateful for.

And, look, I know it sounds easier than it really is. A while back I had a coworker who came to the office one morning with a rubber band around her wrist. When I asked about it, she said she was trying an experiment; she was using the rubber band as a tool to literally snap her out of her negative thoughts. Each time she had a negative thought, she would snap the rubber band. When I told my therapist about it later that week, she helped me reframe this way of thinking. You see, by snapping for the bad thoughts, we become focused on the negative. It’s more likely to make us ruminate on the bad. Instead, my therapist suggested that I do the opposite and add a rubber band or bracelet to my wrist each time I had a good thought and to try to accumulate at least 3-5 bracelets per day. It was pretty brilliant but needless to say, I didn’t stick with it long. It’s hard to see the good sometimes, I get it. But we shouldn’t let that stop us from trying!

I hope you’ll consider joining me in cultivating gratitude this month and beyond. I’d love to hear about some of the things you’re grateful for, but the best part about gratitude is that it works whether you share it with others or keep it to yourself. If you want to share, please do so in the comments. I can’t wait to learn about all of the good stuff that is happening out there. If you’d rather do it on your own, I feel you and support you. But whatever you do, try to find something each day that you can give thanks for.

You’ve no doubt heard the saying, “it takes a village to raise a child.” I heard it often and believed it, but I never fully appreciated it until I had my own kid. Sure, I was part of others’ villages as I babysat for friends and encouraged my young nephew to say ‘excuse me’ after he burped, but I didn’t realize how helpful your village is when caring for your kid, yourself, and your family. When my son was born, I was lucky to have my mother stay with us for a few weeks to help take care of us. She’s pretty amazing, and the fierce love she has for her family can’t be beat. Then I had to go back to work, which meant I had to rely on someone else to take care of my sweet baby boy. I think this is one of the feelings that is hardest to resolve as a working mother. I often felt like I was abandoning Sebastian, and watching him grow up in photos, and leaving him for someone else to raise. I still haven’t quite reconciled these feelings completely but I’m working on it, especially as I let go and know that I really don’t have to do it alone.

Fun at daycare.

With all of that said, the point of this post is that I’m so thankful for the caregivers in Sebastian’s life. From his father to his grandparents and aunts and uncles, our friends, and his daycare teachers, I’ve learned that it truly does take a village.

So many toys to play with, so little time!

In the beginning we were lucky to have found a great daycare for Sebastian. His teachers were considerate, attentive, and seemed to really care about his well being. When we switched to the new daycare, I expected more of the same and was a little disappointed when the teachers didn’t go “above and beyond.” In the grand scheme of things, however, they’re doing a great job. Sebastian is never hungry, he hasn’t had any injuries, and he always has a smile on his face when I pick him up in the evenings.  Oh, and one morning when I walked in the door to drop him off, the 3- to 4-year-old kids saw us and starting yelling, “Good morning, Sebastian!” It was adorably sweet and made me feel better about leaving him there because I knew he was surrounded by folks who cared about him.

Finger painting at daycare

So, I’m really grateful that there will always be someone there if I need them to take care of Sebastian. And not just take care OF him but really care FOR him. It speaks volumes to the people I have chosen to be in my community. But more on that next week 😉

While I try to practice gratitude every day of my life, I like to spend the month of November reflecting on and giving thanks for all the wonderful things in my life. In the past, I’ve highlighted tangible things like handwritten mail and flowers, as well as more abstract concepts like laughter and family traditions.

This year, I struggled a bit to figure out what I wanted to highlight. Not because I’m ungrateful for the wonderful blessings in my life, but because I feel like I’m always thankful for the same things – family, friends, food, etc. – and I don’t want to repeat all of those things to my readers, even though I truly am grateful for those things every single day.

I decided that for this year’s gratitude posts, I would highlight some more specific examples of what I’m thankful for. And when it comes to family, I’ll start with my husband, Nick.

I feel like I could write a book about all of the reasons that Nick is awesome. He truly deserves all the praise he gets and then some. One thing I really admire about him is that he works really hard to create a fulfilling career for himself and to take care of our family. Luckily, this doesn’t mean long hours away at some job, but rather putting forth his best effort both at the office and at home. Sometimes he’s recognized for it, and often times he isn’t, but he always gets the job done.

I’m also extremely grateful that he keeps me going when my anxiety starts to get the best of me. Getting enough sleep and not having a ton of things to worry about really helps keep the anxiety away. Nick knows this so he does a lot to let me keep my much-needed routines. Little things, like preparing Sebastian’s bottles so that I can go to sleep early if that’s what I need that day, really do go a long way. He takes care of the budgeting and the finances, making sure we’re on track to meet our goals and keeping me from blowing all of our money on food. And I never hear him complain.

Finally, I’m incredibly thankful that he’s so good at making me laugh, even when I don’t always feel like it. If you’ve read any of our conversations, you’re already familiar with his dry sense of humor. It’s completely opposite of mine, and I think that’s why he gets me giggling so often. Laughing is one of my favorite things in the world so having someone by my side every day that can crack me up with just one look is a real blessing.

Look, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies with us but we have it pretty darn good. We love each other very much, we agree on (and even dislike) the same things, and we want the best for each other, no matter what. I’m super lucky to wake up next to him and our awesome little guy every day.

And for that, I am super thankful!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner so I’d like to take some time ahead of the holiday to reflect on the things in my life for which I am the most thankful. Thankful Thursday is a weekly series for the month of November.

We had our pictures taken this past weekend for our annual Christmas cards. I get really excited about designing our cards every year because they always turn out so awesome, which leads to me giddily but impatiently waiting to receive everyone else’s holiday cards, photos, and letters. December is one of the best months because there’s a treat in the mailbox just about every day, and we just don’t get that anymore. So this Thursday, I’m thankful for any and all of the handwritten mail I receive all year long.

Photo source

When I was in undergrad, which was ages ago at this point, my aunt and uncle sent me a card in the mail every month. They would include family updates, news about my high school’s sports teams, and other little tidbits of information they thought I might like. I looked forward to those cards every month — and not just because they also included some cash in there 😉 Knowing that someone is thinking of me and taking time out of their busy lives to write me a letter, card, etc. is truly one of the greatest feelings in the world.

The other day I was reading an article about hobbies you could take up if you don’t have any hobbies and it listed “sending physical letters to people.” Um, why didn’t I already think of that? I love writing letters, I love getting letters, and I had several pen pals when I was kid so why not make someone else’s day by writing them a letter? I’ve been thinking about turning this into a hobby in the new year. We’ll see how I do.

Photo source

It seems like email, texting, and social media have made letters essentially obsolete, so the gift of real mail is one that I treasure and one for which I am truly thankful.