Yesterday was one of ‘those’ days; actually this whole week has been interesting. Doing something new is always a bit daunting and I am used to being in control of everything. For me, this last week, I have felt out of my depth a lot of the time resulting in me getting overwhelmed and then feeling sorry for myself. Yes bring out the violins! 😆
Anyway, enough of all the negativity, in order to turn things around a bit, I took a look at a friend’s blog where she too had had a ‘not so great’ day but had finally allowed gratefulness to overtake her. This spoke to me as I began to realise that life was not all bad. I then spent some time in the evening networking with a lot of new friends. I got the chance to spend time with people I consider mentors and the persistent theme became thankfulness – recognition of just how blessed I was despite how tough I was finding things. I also listened to an [amazon_link id=”1402784538″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]audio CD[/amazon_link] which talked about being full of faith and positivity. By the end of the day, I felt empowered to change the thoughts I was allowing into my mind.
So here is a part of my list of things to be grateful for.
- I am alive
- I can walk – Having lived with my father who could not, I know how blessed I am to be able to get around on my own two feet.
- I have a house to live in with more than enough space for me and my family – I have been amongst people who, though in a family of ten, share one room. Just one room for living, sleeping, cooking, and maybe an outside toilet (if they were lucky- more likely a hole in the ground)
- I live in the UK – I had wanted to do this for ages and now this has been my home for 15 years. I do sometimes think I will pinch myself and wake up in 1996 back in Nigeria, longing to leave, but imagine if that were true, I could do it all over even better so nothing to worry about in that respect.
- I have the most amazing husband – Life could have turned out different without him. I so would not do this any different even if I woke up in 1996. I would find my way back to that bottom step in 1998 and make him love me again!
- I have three amazing girls! So so amazing!
- My family is healthy. They love me and I love them.
- There is so much information around at this point in history. Anything I want to learn, I can. Anything I want to do, I can work towards it and do it.
- We live in a global village – I can travel anywhere fairly hastily, I can communicate with anyone anywhere in the world on my computer!!!
- I asked Tloml for more things to be grateful for and he said I still have my looks and I look as fine as the day he married me, if not finer – I suppose I should be grateful!
- I have amazing, supportive friends
- I am healthy
- I can work and earn a decent wage if I needed to.
- There is love and life all around me, just waiting for me to notice.
There are so many more reasons to be thankful and yet most of the time, I lose sight of it. In the middle of trying days (or nights!), or fearful times when learning something new, I forget that the world around me is not as bleak as it can seem in my head.
One of the things a great friend suggested was taking the time each night to make a list of ten things I was grateful for in the passing day. I think that is a great idea and I started yesterday. Maybe that could help you?
I have been reading out a few of your stories and it’s clever stuff. I will surely bookmark your blog.
Thanks