Gratitude Challenge: Week 2
Happy Saturday travel friend! Welcome back and I’m glad you’re here!
We are well into our gratitude challenge now. If you don’t know what that is, every day I post to Instagram something I am thankful for. It helps the mind get out of a negative feedback loop to remember the good things in our lives and practice gratitude with them. Let me review what I have been thankful for this week:
November 5: Neji. He is a powerhouse corgi with a big personality. He has forced me to become a stronger dog mom because he will challenge for alpha if he can. I grew up with bichons which are people pleasers and don’t take much to train in who is boss, but corgis are a whole different set of personality quirks. He’s made me better.
November 6: I posted a photo of me teaching an introduction lesson to a group of 5th graders in Japan. Traveling to Japan was a dream of mine growing up and at 24, I fulfilled that dream when I became an English teacher. It was a big thing to take on and in hindsight, I probably needed more life experience before I went and did that, but it worked out, and I learned a lot in the 2 years I was teaching there.
November 7: So I was working on a cruise ship for about 4 weeks that went from Singapore to Malaysia and Thailand. All of the contractors on board decided to go on an excursion and visit an elephant sanctuary. This is a place that rescues elephants from abusive riding operations so they can live a more humane life. The sanctuary understands that people want to visit the elephants and allows small groups to come and assist with feeding and bathing them and visitor contributions allow them to keep the facility running and save more elephants from bad situations. This lady in the photo I called “Moon” (It was the closest I could get to her real name. they already repeated it to me 3 times and between him being soft spoke and my ear not processing the sounds correctly, this was the best I could do.) She was so sweet. I was clearly very nervous to meet and touch her and she basically said “Hi, you’re my new best friend.” She leaned into me for a hug too and it made my whole month! It’s honestly one of my top travel memories.
November 8: I was thankful for the fact that I went to therapy. Because of the work I did in therapy I was able to process and deal with a lot that was weighing me down. I learned my boundaries better and I was able to take what I learned in therapy and continue even after I was discharged from sessions. (It's also why I look to Brene Brown so much.) I believe everyone needs therapy. LITERALLY EVERYONE. Its much more accessible than it used to be too. If you need it and are on state health insurance, check with your state and see if they have programs for mental health services that you can explore.
November 9: I am thankful for my friendships. I definitely feel like I’m a person who struggles to form friendships with people. Some of that has to do with past complex trauma, and some has to do with the fact that I’ve bopped around so much throughout my life. I also know better now what friendships are supposed to look like and how I am supposed to be treated within those friendships, whereas before therapy, I didn’t know cause I had only ever seen and been subjected to dysfunctional relationships. I am glad and thankful for those who have chosen to be friends with me. They are a treasure.
November 10: I am thankful for my body. I don’t always remember to be kind to it, but it’s a strong body that works hard for me. I’ve always been more of an athlete and I am fortunate to be able to pick up exercising again easily after short or long breaks from movement. I build muscle easily but I struggle with cardio and lately, I’ve been trying to find a YouTuber who does dance cardio workouts because I REALLY hate running. I am blessed with such a strong and healthy body.
November 11: Today! I am thankful for the roof over my head. And specifically, that I live in a house. I don’t own it. We are definitely renters because housing prices are unaffordable, but I remember living in an apartment and wishing every day to live in a house. And even before that, when I was in college I wanted to live in my own apartment. Really, I always want the next step in my living situation, but I also need to remember to pause and be grateful for my current living situation as well. What I have isn’t bad at all and I know many people want what I have. I just wish I owned it so I could rip out the kitchen and build a new one. Haha. I remember before I moved to the west coast, I would go on walks to clear my mind and I purposely chose to walk the nicer residential neighborhoods because I liked looking at the beautiful houses and the ways people expressed themselves in their gardens. And now I have a pretty home and we express ourselves with holiday decorations. I have a good home and I am thankful that its here.
Well, considering how long this weekly wrap-up turned out to be, I think I will leave the post here rather than jump into another topic like I did last week. However, I enjoy these little mini topics of gratitude and if there are things you’ve read that you’d like further explanation on in a future post, please comment and let me know!
Remember to be kind and gentle with yourself especially going into the holiday season. Give yourself the grace you need to feel or process something and if you’re traveling soon, remember to take care of yourself too. Be well friend!
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