The Gift of Gratitudes

Image Credit: https://uk.pinterest.com/lmariefigtree/gratitude/

One of my new year's resolutions for 2016 was to write down something I'm grateful for every single day. And I can say with 100% certainty that I've done it. Between my diary and the app on my phone that I downloaded in August, I have a least one gratitude for every single day. And I think that's really an incredible thing.

I'm a pessimist. I'll be the first one to admit it. And challenging myself to keep a list of gratitudes every single day was a way of forcing myself to focus on the positive things that happen each day, rather than the negative things.

I have an app on my phone called 'Gratitude Log' that I downloaded in August, and I LOVEE it. I update it every single day without fail. I started using it on August 22nd, and in the 112 days that I've used it since then, there have been 431 things that I'm grateful for. That's more than one a day. Now tell me that isn't the most amazing thing.

They're not all massive, life-altering things. Sometimes a gratitude can be something as simple as 'had a lie-in'. It's such a nothing thing that most people probably wouldn't think twice about, but it's something that makes me happy, and therefore, it's something I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for my boyfriend, who puts up with my peculiar ways. I'm grateful for old friends, who have gotten in contact with me to say nice things about my blog. I'm grateful for my parents and sister, who always have time to chat. Mostly. There are so many things in my life right now that I have to be grateful about. Having them all on my phone in one place means I can look back on them and remember what great days they were. And even if not-so-great things did happen on those days, I can't remember what they are. It sounds crazy, but I can feel that my attitude and outlook has changed. I'm not an optimist yet by any standard, but maybe one day I will be.