And, we're back. :-)
For the past seven years (!!!), November has meant Thankfulness Thursdays here on the blog. It's so funny because I truly never intended for this to be what it has become - when I started Thankfulness Thursdays, I was fifteen and couldn't come up with anything to post about on my blog. I remember distinctly talking to my mom about it in the car one day and saying, "Well, it's November, so I guess I can do a gratitude series or something to have some content this month." I certainly never expected to still be here, six Novembers later, but I'm oh so glad that I am. :-)
I know that I keep promising to come back with life updates and all of my typical content, and I promise, I haven't forgotten. Soon soon soon!
But for now, Thankfulness Thursdays are taking the reins. In case you're new and don't know the drill - every Thursday for the month of November, I share a post here on the blog centering around gratitude or what I'm particularly grateful for. Over the years, the challenge has changed and grown and now we keep the party going over on Instagram as well! I started the month over there this time around, but I'm planning to have the next three weeks here one the blog, too.
My favorite part of Thankfulness Thursdays is seeing people join in - I love this little community, and I love hearing your thoughts over the course of the month. There’s no major method to the madness - I would just love for you to share what’s on your heart this November. This year has been a wild one, and I’m really hoping that Thankfulness Thursdays will be a way for us all to take a step back and just breathe.
Tag me in your posts on Instagram, and I will share them on my story, and shoot me a comment, email, or DM if you post for Thankfulness Thursday on your blog, and I’ll link to it on my blog post for that week so that we all can see what everyone is sharing.
The biggest thing that I know is that we constantly have to be rewiring our brains for gratitude. Because at the end of the day, it's a choice - choosing gratitude in the midst of the uncertainty.
A few months ago, I was talking on the phone with a friend. She was asking me what I was thinking as far as life after graduation goes (because, oh yeah, I graduate in four weeks. Like I said, I really need to do a life update on here), and I was expressing my general panic at the fact that I have no earthly idea. I've always been the girl with a plan, and suddenly not having one is just about my least favorite thing in the world.
I truly don't remember what I even said, but after I finished explaining where I was with it all, my friend said, "Well, isn't that kind of exciting though?"
(Reader, I have not been excited.)
"You don't have any expectations for this season," she said, "and it's pretty hard to be disappointed when you don't have any expectations to begin with. So really, you can just be excited to see what happens next, right? You get to do something new, and you have all the options in the world. So, look at the excitement of it. Not the fear."
It was a perspective that I quite literally had not even begun to consider before that moment.
And, despite my ongoing anxiety about it all - it helped me to reframe my perspective.
It helped me to find gratitude in a situation that I hadn't been giving much space for positivity at all.
And isn't that what we have to keep doing in everything?
It's about reframing. It's about gaining a new perspective. It's about taking a step back and letting yourself look at something in a different light - a better light.
So here's to reframing towards gratitude, even when it's hard - and to the people who help us do it when we aren't able to on our own.
May we hold those people close - and may we be those people to those around us.
The fact that this has been no 2020 fall is certainly something to be grateful for! And let me just say again how crazy it is that this tradition is 7 years old!! Sheesh.
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k.
Hi Grace! I'm from Singapore :) I've been following your blog over the past year and it has really brightened my life. You've inspired me to start writing too!
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