Enjoy The Little Things

Tomorrow is the first day of November, and in keeping with my November tradition, I am going to dedicate this coming month to gratitude.  In years past, I have posted something every day during November. Realistically, I will not be able to post every day this year.  Life is just getting too busy, and I'm not about to stress out about a blog. The previous years' daily posts helped to keep me continually thinking about my blessings. I didn't want to lose that effect this year, so I decided to give myself a 30 day attitude challenge in place of the daily posts.  I am going to try not to complain for the entire month of November.  Now, this is not to say that I won't address things that need to be discussed, especially big life issues, or work related squabbles.  But I'm going to avoid complaining about things that don't really matter.  I won't bemoan the housework or whine about how busy I am.  I won't make unnecessary comments about people who annoy me.  Instead, when I feel those petty complaints brewing inside of me, I will take a moment to reflect on my blessings and reconsider my words and thoughts.  I'm betting this is going to be very difficult at first, but very rewarding in the end.  I encourage you to give yourselves an attitude challenge too - whatever it may be!

So, that's my plan - stop complaining and start thanking!  Time to get started!

I have this quote by Robert Brault on the top of my blog: "Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things."  It's so true, but not always easy to keep in perspective. Yes, the big things - weddings, births, graduations, new homes - those things are absolutely worthy of appreciation, but really, it's the little things that make our days worthwhile.  I don't know about you, but when I don't have the little things, or when a bunch of little things go wrong, I tend to gripe.  Someone once told me that the best way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.  While I don't complain as much as a lot of people, and I think I am pretty aware of my blessings, I'll be the first to admit that I grumble too much.  For the next four weeks, instead of whining when something goes wrong, I will thank God for giving me the opportunity to reflect on what is important to me.  They say happiness is a choice, and for the most part I believe that is true.  Gratitude is absolutely a choice.  No matter how bleak our life circumstances may seem, there is always something, no matter how small, to be grateful for.  Here are a few of the little things I am grateful for.  Feel free to add your own.  It's always good to hear good things!

• Lists.  I once read a little blurb that said, "You know you have a type A personality if you get more enjoyment from crossing items off of your to-do list than you do from sex."  Well, I'm not sure that's the case for me, but there's not much in my life that brings me more satisfaction than making lists and crossing off to-do items!  Sometimes I even write stuff down that I already did and then cross them off, just so I can see all the things I've accomplished!  It's a little sick, I know. But hey, what can I say?  Lists make me happy! 
• I love when the cat plops down between my feet and purrs for no apparent reason.  He does it all the time - I'll be cooking, or preparing lunches, getting myself ready for work, or doing laundry, and all of a sudden I feel a soft fuzzy vibration at my feet.  He positions himself so that his stomach is between my feet, stretches out his front and back paws as far as he can, closes his eyes and purrs. He's simply happy to be with me (and Greg - he does it to him too).  What a sweet thing, to be loved so purely by another one of God's creatures.  So sweet...
• Modern amenities - the crock pot, the dish washer, the washer and dryer, indoor plumbing even! Does that sound goofy?  Really, I'm not making it up.  I actually think often about the luxuries that modern invention has given us. (And, no, this wasn't brought on by the hurricane Sandy.  I actually started this blog list long before Sandy came into existence! But really, in light of Sandy, I think we can all be grateful for what we have.)  In the winter, I think about how lucky we are to have heat that we don't have to work for (lighting and maintaining a fire, for example).  When I use the bathroom, I often think about what it was like to have to traipse all the way to an outhouse, especially in the cold winter months, or when a person was ill.  How nice to sit on my clean, warm, creature-free, toilet!  Or can you imagine lugging all of your laundry down to the river with a scrub board, and then lugging all that wet laundry back to the house to hang it up?  What about in the winter when they couldn't hang clothes on the line?  I like my stuff clean, and that would just be a nightmare for me!  I'm even grateful for smaller things, like a dishwasher.  Yes, I can do the dishes by hand, but it's such a time-saver to throw them into a machine that does it for me.  Thank you, ingenuity and technology for making my life easier every single day! 
• Yankee candles.  I don't care what you say, there's no candle better than a Yankee candle.  If you want to get me a gift, buy me a candle - a YANKEE candle.  I don't like food scented candles, but I love the clean scents like Clean Cotton, Fluffy Towels, and Soft Blanket.  I also love the spicy smells of Autumn Leaves and the whole line of Christmas scents like evergreen and bayberry. There's one I think smells like frankincense, but I can't remember the name right now. It reminds me of midnight mass.  It's comfort in a jar! 
• I love a long hot bath with a good book on a cold night.  Add in a glass of wine, and I'm in heaven! 
• Naps.  To say I am an avid napper is an understatement.  I lay in bed at night wide awake for hours, but if I have the chance to lay down in the afternoon, I will be in a coma-like sleep within minutes.  I'm grateful for every chance that I get to take a nap, and I am so grateful that Andrew, at 4 1/2, still naps too.  It's a God-send.  You can bet your bottom dollar that I will be sleeping at 130 this afternoon. (Don't call or text me until after 3!)  It just doesn't get any better than curling up under a ton of warm blankets on a cold and rainy afternoon and drifting off into dreamland for an hour or so.  
• Blogging.  While I'm certainly no John Steinbeck, have always been a better writer than a speaker. In person I can be terribly inarticulate and slow witted.  If you and I get into an argument, you will hear something like this: "Oh yeah, well...so what!"  And then two hours later, when I am frantically scrubbing the bathroom floor, I'll think of a superb comeback...too little, too late.  But when I write, I can get a rough outline down and then come back to it after an hour, a day, a week or more until I have it where I want it.  I don't always take a long time re-reading and proofing blog entries, but sometimes I do.  The blog is really rather informal, so I don't feel pressure to perform. Still, I wouldn't mind that much if I did have pressure to perform in writing, because if given the time, I know I can do it, and I can do it well (as long as you don't mind a few run-on sentences and slight grammatical errors, that is).  In person, I am also as emotionally awkward as I am inarticulate.  When conversations get too deep, too sentimental or too emotionally charged, I get very uncomfortable.   I either say nothing at all, or start cracking stupid jokes to break the tension.  While I don't appear to hold up well in person, I do think about those things - especially the sentimental stuff.  Blogging gives me a means of expression that I can't always reveal face to face.  Writing has always been an outlet for me.  This blog is has been one of the most therapeutic things I have done for myself in my adult life.  It's a routine channel for me to use to unload whatever (or most of whatever) is bothering me.  It's where I share my happiness, and where I shout to the world how much I love those around me, and how blessed I truly feel about my life, my friends and my family.  I love writing, and even if no one was reading, I would continue to write.  

So there you have it.  The first of the month's gratitude entries.  Stay tuned for more, and let me know if you decide to take a 30 day challenge too ~ or send me a list of your own little things!  Happy November!  Stay merry, and be grateful!