Gratitude
I often find myself thinking about all the things that are going wrong. Monday was a hard day full of mistakes, fumbles, and all-around bad luck. Tuesday, I woke up late and thought to myself, “looks like it’s going to be one of those weeks.” I grumpily got out of bed to brush my teeth and discovered we were out of toothpaste. Luckily, I carry an emergency travel tube in my luggage, but this just made me even later. The rest of the day was spent in a dizzying haze of late appointments and thing after thing going wrong. That afternoon I went to my personal Instagram and lamented over insta-stories how defeated I felt, and we weren’t even halfway through the week.
A very dear friend of mine reached out and we had a chat. She was kind, understanding and let me know that my feelings were valid and that burn out is a very real thing. I guess I hadn’t realized just how scorched I had become these last few months. Insert story of woe about the pandemic crushing another business I worked hard to build. I won’t go into the details in this post but suffice it to say 2020 sucked.
After our chat I started thinking about how much I had lost over the last year and how hard I have been working to build my new business. Then it dawned on me, I was starting a new business, during the ongoing pandemic and doing what I love! This made me pause and take a step back. I have immense privilege. There it was plain as day, but I was so focused on the relatively minor setbacks that I couldn’t see the forest through my crumby mood. I had the opportunity to re-start after what was one of the hardest years of my working life and try again. I have this massive amount of privilege and I was being incredibly ungrateful.
I began to feel a little foolish thinking about all the small inconveniences that had almost ruined my week. Don’t get me wrong, my emotions were valid as my friend confirmed but I was focusing my attention and energy in the wrong direction. I made a promise to myself that I would begin to count the wins. The small and seemingly minor good things that had happened during my week. I even made a list:
• I had a nice chat with my friend.
• I ran out of toothpaste, but I had a spare tube.
• I got to hug someone I love deeply.
• Someone let me in when I was running late.
• I got a lot of work done.
• I had an excellent one-on-one session with a client.
• I get to do what I love!
I can’t promise that I’ll always be grateful, but I can start to shift my focus back to the little victories in my life that bring me joy and help me realize my purpose. Next time you find yourself in a funk because nothing seems to be going your way, count the wins and watch how quickly you start to feel like a winner.
- Steph
