My sister’s birthday was on 14th January and I had an outburst of sadness that reduced me to tears that day – not seeing her or being together, wandering the local shops together and drinking Champagne on her birthday.  I missed it all and – like you I’m sure when thinking about your own loved ones – resented it.

Then, I knew it was time.  I’d tried to keep a Gratitude Journal before and after a few days slipped.  This time I’ve kept going.

Choosing a sparkly and fun little notebook (I have a few) before hopping in to bed I write “It’s the X of January and today I’m truly grateful for…” and off I go.  Five things.  It’s been easy to find those five things.

During the day, I’ll look out for them which has made me focus on finding and noticing the things I’m grateful for which I want to jot down and acknowledge..  

Last night I re-read them all.  Simple things, relationships, sunshine, our hounds, fun Zoom calls, new business, friends, good food – all things I’ve written in my sparkly little journal.  

It’s helped.  I even wrote “being able to write” – you can decide if or how that’s useful but I love writing.  (Then I noticed – 2 days after writing that – I was asked to be something of a Tricky Communication Agony Aunt for a magazine.  Of course I’ve said YES).

Gratitude Journalling – not a new thing I know.  But it’s a new thing for me  and I’ve stuck to it this time rather than tried for a few days…

Another thing I’m grateful for is hanging out at home with my husband and hounds.  We ‘should‘ have been on holiday now in sunnier climes but – going with the flow – we’re here.  I may still put my sunhat on over the weekend and daydream a bit…

This time last year.  Heyho, we all have these kind of reminders in our devices.  We’ll certainly appreciate them all the more as and when we can do such things again.