Gratitude (and a New Hobby)

A few weeks ago, I wrote about needing to be grateful with where I am in life, when my best friend Erin moved to China. I’ve been kind of vaguely thinking about it since then, but then this morning, Erin posted her own blog post about gratitude. We’ve been making gratitude lists and gratitude posters since we were in college, and every now and then, we remember how important it is. A professor once challenged me to make a list of 200 things, and it was way harder than I thought it would be, but so worth it.

I’m going to take a slight detour and tell you about one of my new hobbies (I feel like a pick up a new hobby every week). I just started hand lettering, which I’ve learned is different from typography and calligraphy. Don’t mix those up, or people will turn their noses up at you. Ok, not really. Anyway, I made myself a journal.

It’s one of my favorite quotes from the Chronicles of Narnia. It’s a good reminder for me to be courageous everyday.

In case you’re wondering, this is called Coptic binding. And yes, I did that. I used to do it all the time, but who has time for that now?

But anyway, I love hand lettering, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to use it every chance I get….

See? This is all related.

So, in the spirit of my college days, I made a gratitude poster today. The idea is that whenever I’m thankful for something, I write it down. Pretty simple, but seeing it everyday on my wall has a tendency to change my attitude for the better. It usually goes something like this:

“Ughhh, I have to start work again next week. And I can’t log in to this stupid employee portal! I’m going to punch something!”
*looks at list*
*sighs*
“At least I have a job. And it’s actually not as bad as I’m making it seem right now.”

So, that’s how it works. And now I’m going to write a short list (not 200 things).

I am grateful for:

1. my loving husband, Judah
2. my family
3. my friends
4. my church
5. hand lettering
6. journals
7. my comfortable home
8. my piano
9. starting work again next week
10. my garden
11. the homemade ice cream sitting in my freezer right now
12. my health
13. my mom visiting this weekend
14. my new coloring book
15. technology/long distance communication
16. my education
17. music and art
18. sweat pants
19. my wonderful nephew and nieces
20. the skillet cookie that Judah is cooking right now

What are you thankful for?