Grateful…

Life has been pretty tough for us & me, over the past few months. Adulting, to coin a social media popular word, can be pretty challenging and sometimes life can throw things at you that you have to handle, even when you don’t want to. 

I have shared a fair bit about my mental health, recently, and it probably has felt a bit doom and gloom on the blog. 

So, I have decided that this post, as we end what has been a pretty “interesting” November, with a grateful post. 

Processing health news, life news, news that affects how we live our life, and reevaluating everything we hold dear, has given me some fresh perspective. It sounds cheesy, but I am realising that part of dealing with my anxiety is counting my blessings when the world around me seems to be throwing things at me that I don’t feel I can handle. 

So, walking into Richmond this afternoon with my small boy, talking about life, I took in this view, and took a deep breath and decided to count some of the things I am grateful for. 

I am grateful for friends, who have rallied round me, recently, and us, propped me up, called me, messaged me, listened, supported. For being taken out for lunch, for being bought little gifts that have made me smile. For support in parenting choices and gently given advice when I have needed it most. 

I am grateful for family who have had our backs. We all need our mums or dads sometimes, even as adults. 

I am grateful for my local community and church family. 

I am grateful for health insurance that is helping us to cover the cost of some of the therapy I am having, as well as the probable cost of the knee surgery it looks like I might need, much earlier than we had hoped after the last lot of surgery. 

I am grateful for my job, and the people I work with every week. It gets me out of bed, knowing I have something to go to, and a community to serve and a wonderful team who make me drink coffee when I need it and have covered for me when I have had to take time off. 

I am grateful for this blog and social media, for the people it has put me into contact with, and that I have come to know and the supportive community I have that comes with that. 

I am grateful for my children, who might drive me crazy, but who make me proud and happy more often than crazy. 

I am grateful for a life partner who works hard and supports us, and who keeps me glued together when I really do think that I may fall apart. 

I am grateful to be spending Christmas in a beautiful setting, house sitting for friends and a much needed week of family time and switching off. 

And I am grateful for this, where we live. Who couldn’t take a breath, look at this, and feel that even though life may not always go as planned, and has it’s challenges, that there are things out there to make you smile, and remember that even with the hard stuff there is always good…

No filter, no tweaking, the sky was that blue. 

What are you grateful for today?